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V. 








History of Pioneer 
Kentucky 



R. S. Cotterill 

Member of the Filson Club, of the Kentucky State 

Historical Society and of the Bradford Memorial 

and Historical Association; Professor of 

History, Western Maryland College 



1917 

Johnson Sc Hardin 

Cincinnati 






Copyright, 1917, by 
R. S. COTTERILL 




'CI. A -15 5 8 80 
*7. . . / 






f 



To My Wife 



PREFACE 



THE History of Pioneer Kentucky is submitted to 
the reader with many misgivings on the part of its 
author. As the work has progressed he has come fto 
realize more and more clearly the greatness of the under- 
taking and his own deficiencies as a historian. Seven years 
ago, when this little book was begun, he had, if the tinith 
be told, but scant suspicion of either. Perhaps the only 
good thing that can be said of it is, that the author has 
searched diligently for the tnith and told it Avithout 
prejudice when he found it. 

The preparation of the book has gone forward in the 
midst of constant duties as a teacher, and this fact has 
affected the plan of the work. It was a State history 
that was first in mind. But the flectness of time and the 
rarity of opportunities for research soon made it necessary 
to limit the period under investigation. It is the author's 
hope to carry on the history of the State in succeeding 
volumes as leisure, and the public, permits. 

Most of the material used has been obtained from the 
Draper Collection now housed in the Historical liibrary 
at the University of Wisconsin, and from the Durrctt Col- 
lection now distributed in the Library of the University of 
Chicago. Much of this material, especially in the Draper 
Collection, is in manuscript, uncalendai'ed and practically 
inaccessible save after most patient searching'. No claim 
is made of having exhausted this ; a thorough investiga- 



iv PREFACE. 

tion would rtquirc constant effort over a long period ^f 
time, and this the writer was not able to make. 

The author tenders liis warmest thanks to liis present 
and former pupils for their constant aid and encourage- 
ment. Except for the untiring efforts of Miss Bessie 
Conkw right the book would liardl}' have seen the light of 
day. For the faithful assistance of Miss Eloise Somerlatt 
in revision and proof-reading the author is entirely unable 
to express an adequate appreciation. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Debatable Land 1 

Background or Kentucky History 16 

Prehistoric Kentucky 30 

Exploration of Kentucky 4J2 

The Surveyors 58 

Transylvania Tl 

Transylvania and Virginia 94 

Kentucky County 108 

The Great Invasion 129 

Growth and Expansion 150 

The Year of Sorrows 177 

The Struggle for Autonomy 198 

Economic and Social 229 



riistory of Pioneer Kentucky 



THE DEBATABLE LAND 

"D Y THE middle of the eighteenth century, the English 
■^^ colonies in America had grown, by means of wars, 
treachery and natural increase, from a few isolated settle- 
ments to twelve virile states. In the same age, the French, 
impelled by religion and lust of power, had extended their 
claims and sometimes their authority over a region many 
times larger than the mother country. But the Alleghany 
Mountains barred the western advance of the English, 
w^hile the French had not the power, though not lacking 
the inclination, to settle the long reaches separating their 
villages on the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi and the Gulf. 
There was left between the Mississippi and the Alleghanies 
a vast region claimed by both nations and occupied by 
neither. Through this flowed a broad river which the 
French, from its appearance and their own ignorance, 
named La Belle Riviere. South of this river lay in un- 
broken wildness, a land which had not yet suffered the 
habitation of a white man. Both French and English 
claimed it, the Indian fought for it, and no one possessed 
it. It was, indeed, a Debatable Land. 

It was not, however, an unknown country. If it could 
be said of early Kentucky, as of ancient Athens, that it 
was as great as it reputation, it would have lacked little 
of perfection. Although inhabited by no tribe, hardly 
a warrior of the Ohio Indians but had visited it on war 



2 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

parties or on hunting trips. To tlie traders that came 
to them from Virginia and tlic other cok)nies, tliey described 
Kentucky in hmguage at once vague and beautiful. Its 
eastern limits, as all men knew, were the borders of Vir- 
ginia, but its other boundaries were yet to be determined. 
On the north they rested on the Ohio; the Tennessee or 
even the Mississippi was assigned as the western terminal. 
But to the south it stretched away, vague and indefinite, 
over the river valleys and through the blue haze of the 
mountains. That it stopped short of the Cherokces, was 
all the curiosity of the trader could elicit and the jeal- 
ousy of the red man would disclose. The Indian Ken- 
tuck}^ in fact, had its center at the old Indian trading 
post at Indian Fields, near Red River, and the name was 
applied without nice distinctions to all the country around. 
The traders carried to their homes innumerable stories 
of the country, and the reports they spread of its beauty 
assuredly did not gi-ow less in the telling. 

In very truth, there could not have been found in all 
the land a paradise more perfect for the hunter. From 
the eastern mountains to the Mississippi, the earth was 
covered by a forest almost unbroken of deciduous and 
evergreen trees. ^ There was little underbrush and no 
swamps. So luxuriantly and so closely intermingled grew 
the trees, the Indians could report without exaggera- 
tion that the sun's rays never reached the earth in the 
Kentucky country. Here in the valleys grew the great 
oaks, the hickory, the ash and the walnut. Along the 
water courses the sycamore grew white and tall ; the foot- 
hills were covered by the beech and the poplar, standing 
round and straight and beautiful as Ionic pillars. The 

1 FiLson, Description of Kentucky, p. 22. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 3 

maple and the sugar-tree abounded everywhere. In the 
mountains, the pine, the cedar and the hazel predominated. 
In the shadows of the statelier trees were those of a humbler 
appearance. The coffee-tree and the cucumber-tree were 
familiar to the carl}^ Kentuckians, but are entirely unknown 
to their descendants. The pawpaw and mulberry are yet 
familiar names. The sugar-tree, the walnut, the pawpaw, 
the hickory and the mulben-y produced fruit which formed 
no small part of the primitive bill of fare. So extensive 
were the forests that not even a century of character- 
istic destruction at the hands of the people has sufficed 
to entirely denude the state. The paucity of undergrowth, 
added to the size and orderly ranks of the trees, gave to 
the Kentucky forest a peculiar charm in the eyes of the 
hunter, the hermit, and the pioneer. Irregular Indian 
and buffalo trails wound through the forests from north 
to south and from east to west ; in our time these remain, 
sometimes macadamized and forming a modem road, but 
oftener existing as sunken paths through the valleys or 
as gulleys over the hills." 

But there was one section of Kentucky whereon no 
forests grew. An area of six thousand square miles lying 
immediately south of the Falls of the Ohio was destitute 
of trees, though over-abounding in grass. ^ The name 
"Barrens" given it by the settler has been replaced by the 
more appropriate and less euphonious "Pennyrile." This 
region lay, a vast oasis, in a desert of woodland. The 
simple pioneers, slow to believe in the fertility of any soil 
untenanted by the trees, fastened upon it a name that is 
now hardly a memory. The dearth of forest, however, 



2 The old buflFalo road from Upper Blue Licks to Lower Blue 
Licks is still visible in many places. 

3 Shaler, History of Kentucky, p. 28. 



4 HISTOHY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

was owing not to the poverty of the soil but to the cunning 
of red huntci*s. The Indians had early cleared away the 
trees from the land in order that the growing grass might 
tempt thither the buffaloes that roamed the prairies of 
Illinois and the west. Whether persuaded by this or by 
other causes, the buffaloes came in numbers large enough to 
excite the wonder, the admiration and sometimes the fear 
of the settler. The belief in a great desert existing some- 
where in the heart of America was a part of the creed of 
all orthoilox men in colonial days. It held in the 
popular imagination the place of the El Dorado of two 
centuries before; everyone believed in it and it was marked 
down in every map. It required, then, very little provoca- 
tion for an explorer to discover a desert. When the first 
travelers in Kentucky looked out upon the "Barrens," 
they were not slow to persuade themselves that they saw 
before them the Great American Desert and to name it 
accordingly. The desert character of the "Barrens" has 
long since been exploded, but it is interesting to obserA'^e 
that the idea of a great central desert in America is not 
yet extinct. Since the settlement of Kentucky, the desert 
has moved graduall^'^ westward, until at the present time 
it rests at the base of the Rocky Moutains in much dimin- 
ished awfulness. 

But is was not alone as a woodland that Kentucky 
excited the curiosity or the desire of the hunter. The earth 
there, so said the Indians, was carpeted with cane even as 
the land of Virginia with the grass. To the men of the 
Yadkin and Shenandoah this was passing strange, and not 
a few of them were drawn to Kentucky to view tlie novel 
spectacle."* Nor had the Indians reported falsely : the 



* Simon Kenton was led to Kentucky by the desire of findinfr the 
famous canelands. Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. II, p. Hli. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 5 

northern region of Kentucky lying along the Ohio was 
covered with the evergreen crop. Herein the cane grew 
wild and rank. At its greatest height it reached twelve 
feet and never fell below three. At times the stalk attained 
a diameter of two inches, and never were paths able to be 
made through the brakes save with the utmost difficulty. 
It was in these cane-brakes that the Indians fought their 
fiercest battles and prepared their deadliest ambushes. 
When the settlement of Kentucky began, it was in the cane- 
brakes that the settlers were most often ensnared. As Ken- 
tucky was divided into barrens and woodland, so was it 
divided — sharply — into hill and plain. The entire eastern 
region — one-third of the present state — was a "vein of 
mountains" running from northeast to southwest and half 
a hundred miles in breadth. Their Indian name, 
"Ouasiotos,"^ has long been replaced by the Cumberland. 
They were in no case lofty nor difficult of passage, but 
from their eastern slope presented an appearance so gloomy 
that ofttimes the hunter had not the courage to attempt 
their real difficulties. But once safely over their ranges, 
a traveler might feel well repaid for his past privations 
by the prospect before him of central Kentucky. This 
was a region of rolling plain, covered with the now famous 
bluegrass and dotted closely with stately trees. Herein 
then, as now, lay the heart of Kentucky. The Indians saw 
in it their favorite hunting ground and the eastern hunters 
sought it as their heart's desire ; the first and firmest settle- 
ments were planted on its rivers, and it early demanded, 
and has since retained, the hegemony of the state. Along 
the Ohio and the Mississippi the plains fell slowly away 
to the prairie. A broken chain of hills ran through at 



5 The name is so spelled on Evan's map of 1765. 



6 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

the north from cast to west wliich, although of considerable 
elevation in some places, never approached the dignity of 
mountains. 

Not tlie least beautiful nor the least useful of the 
features of Kentucky were the rivers. There need be no 
error in writing of these, since they remain in appearance, 
as in use, practically the same as in the days of Pontiac. 
There are the same shoals in their beds and the same 
jungles along their banks. Their currents are crossed 
not by bridges but by ferry boats which, even if not as 
old as those of pioneer build, are yet of very similar 
structure and utility. One of these rivers, rising in the 
eastern mountains, after many wearisome detours flows into 
the Ohio near its mouth. Among the Indians it was called 
the Shawnee River, but Dr. Walker renamed it the Cum- 
berland ^ in honor of the Duke of Cumberland to whose 
character the "amazing crookedness" of the stream bore 
a startling resemblance. Twin sister of the Cumberland 
is the Tennessee, which after beginning in east Tennessee 
makes many weird detours in that State and Alabama before 
turning to the Ohio. It was the Ciierokee River in the 
same sense that the Mediterranean was a Roman sea.^ 
Somewhat to the east of these were the Green and the 
Salt rivers. The latter of these in early times was called 
Pigeon River. The licking was known to the Indians as 
the Nepernine and to the early settlers as the Great Salt 
Creek.^ It owes its present name to the multitude of salt 
"licks" along its banks. The Big Sandy River of today 
was the Totteroy or Chatteraway of the Indians. But 

8 Walker's "Journal" in Johnston, First Exploration of Ken- 
tucky. 

7 Treaty of Fort Stanwix in Documentary History of New 
York, Vol. I, p. 687. 

8 Lewis Evan's map, 1755. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 7 

the largest, the most beautiful, and the best known was 
the river now called the Kentucky. Among the Indians 
themselves it was a favorite stream, and the fertile plains 
through which it flowed were the favorite hunting ground 
of the red men. In the facile limestone soil its current 
had cut a deep bed and the banks in pioneer time, and 
even now, were clothed with the stately forest. Its wide 
reputation among the Indian tribes is evidenced by the 
numerous names it possessed. It was variously called 
CuttaAva, Catawba, Catawa, Chenoka, Chenoa and Mille- 
wakane.^ From this last the indefatigable Dr. Walker 
evolved a name of his own, "Milley." Among the early 
settlers it was for some time known as the Louisa or Levisa 
River through a mistaken identification with another stream 
to which Dr. Walker had given that name.^° The tribu- 
taries and headwaters of the Kentucky rivers interlocked 
in a most remarkable manner. A map of Kentucky seemed 
a mere network of rivers. All rose in the Cumberland 
Mountains and all flowed into the Ohio. Portages were 
short and easy. The rivers were all alike distinguished 
by winding courses and multiple shoals. 

The bluegrass of Kentucky grew from a soil that rested 
lightly upon deep strata of hmestone. This was a rock 
easily aff*ected by the action of water. As a result many 
of the rivers had cut deep beds for themselves and some 
had even sunk from view, existing for much of their courses 
as underground streams. The same causes had produced 
caverns and caves over the land in almost endless variety. 
Of these the most noted was Mammoth Cave on Green 
River. It was an object of awe to the Indians and, since 
its discovery by the white men, has ranked as one of the 



9 Johnston, First Explorations of Kentucky, p. 63 (note). 

10 A tributary of the Kanawha. 



8 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Seven Wonders of the world. At its d;uk nioutli the super- 
stitious Indian paused in veneration as the devout Greek 
before the Lake of Avernus. Generations gone, their 
mound-building ancestors had used the caves for a much 
more practical purpose in making them their dwelling 
places. Exploitation has revealed in the caves many ves- 
tiges of their past life — tiicir pottery, their clothing and 
their arms. It was, in fact, from their dwelling in the caves 
of Kentucky that the Chcrokees gained their distinctive 
name among their Indian neighbors. 

More tempting to the buffaloes than the long grasses 
of the barrens were the numerous salt "licks" that were 
scattered over the land. These were springs of salt water^^ 
and derive their name from the fact that the game thronged 
thither to lick the surrounding ground so deeply impreg- 
nated with the salt. They were the great congregating 
places of all tlie wild animals : one observer reported that 
he saw ten thousand at the Lower Blue Licks at one time. 
It is undoubtedly true that they thronged to the licks 
in enormous numbers and literally trampled each other 
under foot in their eagerness to reach the salt. The ground 
surrounding the various licks are for many acres veritable 
reservoirs of buried bones. All paths led to the licks. 
Beasts of prey found it more profitable to await at the 
licks their intended victim than to hunt them down in the 
forest. Nor did the settlers neglect the methods of the 
beasts, whose instincts they in so large measure possessed ; 
the licks furnished them the meat and the means of pre- 
serving it. The licks were scattered all over the land but 
were more numerous along the rivers — one of which owes 



11 Prof. Shaler asserts in his History of Kentucky that the salt 
springs are an indication that at one time the surface of Kentucky 
was below sea level, ])p. 40, 41. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 9 

its name to their proximity. The two best known, perhaps, 
were the Upper and Lower Blue Licks on the Licking. 
Both are now extinct. Drennon's Lick and Boone's on 
the Kentucky and BuHitt's on Salt River were, and are, 
springs of great power. The latter was the great salt 
manufacturing center in the pioneer days of Kentucky. 
Big Bone Lick in northern Kentucky was not so much 
a spring as a sepulcher. To the Indians it was from time 
immemorial the "place of the big bones." ^^ When the 
first pioneers reached the Lick they found bones lying 
around it in great quantities and of gigantic size. They 
were the melancholy relics of a vanished race of mas- 
todons. These animals must have exceeded by many times 
the size of elephants and indubitably flourished when the 
earth was young. The Indians when questioned about 
them asserted stolidly that the bones had lain in that posi- 
tion since the beginning of years. 

The game to be found in Kentucky was of such qual- 
it}^ and quantity as to render the land the favorite hunt- 
ing ground of both northern and southern Indians. ^^ The 
buffaloes abounded at the licks and on the plain. They 
fed and moved in large herds at fixed periods and by regu- 
lar roads. As they traveled the forests year after year 
from one lick to another, they made deeply marked roads 
through the country. On account of their huge size and 
the delicious savor of their cooked flesh they were esteemed 
by the Indians above all other game. The deer were not 
less numerous than the buffaloes and were hunted by both 
red men and white for the flesh and the skins. Bears 
were numerous, and with the panther, the wildcat and the 
wolf, were frequently encountered at the licks or in the 



12 Lewis Evan's map of Kentucky, 1755. 

13 Filson, Description of Kentucky, p. 27. 



10 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

mountains. Wild ducks and gcesc were abundant on the 
rivers and were "amazingly" numerous on the Ohio. Tur- 
keys, pheasants, partridges and parroquets were common, 
while the Indians asserted and the white man believed that 
there was native to the land a Avoodcock whose bill was pure 
ivory ! Great owls there were, too, we are told, which 
made surprising noises. In the rivers were buffalo-fish 
and cat-fish whose weight often reached one hundred pounds. 
There were trout of thirt^'-pound weight, but no shad or 
herring. Beavers and otters were found in not a few 
streams. 

The English race in America owes to the Iroquois 
Indians a debt which it has but tardily acknowledged and 
never paid.^^ Living among the lakes of New York they 
formed for the colonies a conscious shield which the French, 
try as they might, could not successfully pierce. Had 
Champlain, instead of arousing their enmity, secured their 
allegiance, the war for Independence might have been 
fought against the fleur-de-lis rather than the blended 
cross. Nor was tlieir power confined to their habitation ; 
like their Roman prototype, they conquered widely and 
ruthlessly. By 1750 there was not a tribe east of the 
Mississippi failing to acknowledge their pre-eminence, and 
but few that failed to bow to their power. They brooked 
no rivals ; many a rivaling tribe conquered was compelled 
to take the name "women," under which stigma they could 
initiate nothing of importance either at home or in the 
field save by express permission of their masters, the 
Iroquois. The pax Iroquois was of incalculable benefit to 
the English. Penn settled among, christianized and de- 
spoiled the Susquehannas, who dared not fight against the 



1* Fiske, Discovery of America, Vol. I, Chap. I. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 11 

will of the Iroquois ; the Tuscaroras of North Carolina 
suffered without revenge a myriad of injuries from the 
white men until it pleased their overlords to let them take 
the warpath. Finally, when the human tide of settlers 
poured over the Alleghanies into the valley of Kentucky, 
it was into a country almost void of men. It was the 
hunting ground of the dreaded Six Nations ; their savage 
mandate had gone forth that no one should dwell therein. 
The fear of the Iroquois and the dread of their wrath 
had kept the land inviolate. Short hunting parties stole 
in and out of the state, but of fixed habitation there was 
little, and, at the time of settlement, none. So the early 
Kentuckians had no obstinate Indian tribes to subdue, but 
merely straggling parties to encounter or friendly Iroquois 
to cajole. When the Iroquois finally were compelled to 
choose between the Englishman and the colonist, the ex- 
ploration was too far advanced to be checked. 

There were, in truth, in 1750 but three places in 
Kentuck}"^ where the red men dwelt. These were the ex- 
treme west of Kentucky, where the Chickasaws lived in 
savage independence on the cliffs of the Mississippi ; a 
small section of ground opposite the mouth of the Scioto 
River, occupied by a Shawnese town ; and an isolated town 
in central Kentucky. The record of the last of these is 
at once the most interesting and the least known. In 
1745, Chartier, a French trader, met and traded with the 
Shawnese Indians at the Falls of the Ohio.^^ Setting 
out from the Falls in company with a predatory band of 
Indians, his company soon encountered two traders whom 
they despoiled of their goods, amounting to about £1600 
in value. Continuing their journey southward, they set- 



is Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. II, p. 169. 



12 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

tied on ix small stream that was afterwards named Lulbe- 
grud Creek. ^" Here they laid out a town to which they 
gave the name Eskippakithiki. Though the town has 
long since disappeared, the present name, Indian Old 
Fields, preserves the memory of the ancient post.^" Dwell- 
ing in the heart of the bluegrass region and at a distance 
from both kinsman and foe, the exiled Shawnese pros- 
pered and grew apace. But after two or thr&e years the 
warriors of the Six Nations learned of the trespassers 
on their hunting grounds. From that hour the life of 
the Shawnese was one of danger and fear; the Iroquois 
harassed them incessantly. The northern Shawnese mean- 
while sent reiterated requests for their wandering brethren 
to return to the tribe, but they were reluctant to leave 
Kentucky'. Finally, worn out by Iroquois attacks, the 
exiles began their journey out of the land. Numbering 
four hundred and fifty, they traveled down the Lulbegrud, 
the Red, the Kentucky, and the Ohio, to the Tennessee. 
Ascending the Tennessee to Bear Creek they met and 
wantonly attacked the Chickasaws. That warlike tribe 
speedly punished and expelled the intruders, who fled to 
the Creeks of the south. In 1748 the remnant of the tribe 
took up anew the journey to the Ohio Shawnese. They 
tarried for awhile on the Cumberland River in Tennessee 
until attacked by the unforgiving Chickasaws. Reduced 
to two hundred and fifty they set out again down the 
Cumberland, having their women and children in canoes 
and the warriors traveling on guard along the bank. They 
reached the Ohio, but on account of the heavy rains were 
unable to ascend it. Stopping at the Wabash they were 



ic Lulbegrud Creek was so named by Boone. 

17 The site of the old town is some fifteen miles from the present 
town of Winchester. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 13 

persuaded to join the Indians at Kaskaskia. After a stay 
here of two years they were, in 1762, taken home by the. 
Ohio Shawnese. Eskippakithiki at one time was a town 
of considerable size. It was a market and a neutral meet- 
ing place for the northern and southern Indians. In the 
period of its prosperity and after its abandonment, it 
was visited frequently by white traders, among whom the 
rollicking John Finley was conspicuous. It was at Eskip- 
pakithiki that the venerable ShaAvnese chieftain, Black 
Hoof, was born. He accompanied the tribe on all its 
wanderings, and years afterwards when Kentucky was set- 
tled and himself an old man, he revisited his old home, 
identified its landmarks and related its history. 

The Ohio Shawnese dwelling along the banks of the 
Scioto River possessed at its mouth on the Ohio a capital of 
a hundred houses. A portion of this was destroyed some 
3'^ears before the exploration of Kentucky by a furious 
storm that raised the Scioto and the Ohio far above their 
accustomed beds.^^ The dispossessed Shawnese took courage 
to cross the Ohio and establish anew their dwelling places 
on the Kentucky shore. The new town was, in modern par- 
lance, merely a suburb of the old and the same name Shan- 
noah was common to both. The Kentucky town contained 
forty houses and the combined strength of the two was 
about two hundred and fift}^ men. 

The Chickasaws of the region bordering on the Missis- 
sippi could hardly be called inhabitants of Kentucky ; to 
the early Kentuckians the name embraced the land east of 
the Cherokee or Tennessee River.^^ The Chickasaws were 
comparatively few in number, never having more than a 



18 Gist's "Journal" in Johnston, First Exploration of Kentucky. 

19 Treatv of Fort Stanwix, in Documentary History of New York, 
Vol. I, p. 587. 



U HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

few hundred fighting men, but their numerical weakness 
was more than overbalanced by their native fierceness and 
daring. Happily, their arms were never turned against 
the infant settlements ; secure behind their river they ig- 
nored and were ignored by the settlers. Not until Clarke, 
in violation of all rights of friendsliip and fairness, at- 
tempted to place a fort ^" in the midst of their homes did 
they lift their hands. In the early annals of Kentucky 
there is much mention of the Shawnese, the Wyandots and 
the Cherokecs, but the name of the Chickasaws rarely finds 
a place in its history. 

To the impartial observer it would seem that two hun- 
dred and fifty miles of separating forests and mountains 
would have sufficed to prevent the quarrels and even the 
contests of the red nations. But no obstacle seemed able 
to restrain the Shawnese on the north of Kentucky and 
the Cherokees on the south, and in consequence of this 
Kentucky was crossed and recrossed by well-marked war 
roads by which the warriors of either nation sallied forth 
for slaughter or revenge. These roads, like the paths of 
the desert, were marked white with the bones of the dead. 
Beginning at Shannoah on the Ohio, the greatest of all 
these roads ran south across the headwaters of the Great 
Salt Lick Creek and the Kentucky and through the passes 
of the Ouasiotos to the Cherokee country. 

Along this road went year after year Shawnese against 
Cherokee, and Cherokee against Shawnese, unceasingly. 
From many regions this was the "common road to the Cut- 
tawa country." ^^ Boone built his Wilderness Road for fifty 
miles along this highway of contention. Another war road 
ran from Shannoah to the Great Buffalo Lick and thence 



20 Fort JeflFerson. 

2' Lewis Evan's Map. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 15 

west to the Falls of the Ohio, passing Big Bone Lick in 
its course. From Big Bone Lick a warpath ran to the 
great war road and joined it on the crossing of the north 
fork of the Kentucky ; thence it ran northeast to the 
Totteroy and down it to the Ohio. The continuation of 
this road northward extended to the northwest territory 
and even to the Great Lakes. 

Much effort has been expended and great ingenuity dis- 
played in the various attempts to determine the origin and 
meaning of the name Kentucky. The honor of giving a 
name to the State has been readily assigned to each tribe 
that has in the past threatened the country and molested 
its people. Common sense would suggest that the name of 
a country might originate with its owners, or at least its 
conquerors, and the truth seems to be that although Ken- 
tucky was known by different names to the various tribes 
that desired and tormented it, the dominant and lasting 
name was Iroquois. The Kentakee of the Six Nations was 
easily corrupted into "Kentuckee" by the traders whose 
spelling was conditioned on a by no means subtle percep- 
tion of sounds. Nor has the meaning of the word escaped 
the imaginative powers of the etymologist. The school 
children are taught that it signifies the "head of the 
river;" it has been said to mean "a cane land," a "middle 
land" and even a "dark and bloody ground." But the 
Iroquois Kentakee was in simple English, "meadow land" ^" 
and was a term peculiarly appropriate to central Ken- 
tucky to which region the name was at first limited. For 
a score of years the land was called indifferently "Louisa" 
or "Kentucke." How the latter name prevailed and grad- 
ually extended to all sections of the State is rather a mat- 
ter for the psychologist than the historian. 



22 Brown, Political Beginnings of Kentucky, p. 10 (note). 



16 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 



BACKGROUND OF KENTUCKY 
HISTORY. 

IT WOUT>D have been well for the pioneers of Kentucky 
had the policy of the Iroquois served to destroy the peo- 
ple whose country their strength sufficed to subdue. But 
the various tribes that had claimed or possessed Kentucky 
had been but prohibited from the land ; they remained on 
the borders of the country, constantly striking at each 
other across the length and breadth of it, and prepared for 
all their internecine wars to unite against any prospec- 
tive occupant thereon. So it came to pass that when the 
first settlers came into Kentuck}'^, their entrance was op- 
posed, their settlements endangered, and their progress 
delayed by Indians who were no more occupants of the land 
than they. Therefore, for the better understanding of the 
history of Kentucky it is necessar}'^ to consider the loca- 
tion and organization of these border Indians and the 
source and character of the immigration which wrested 
Kentucky from their hands, 

Kentucky from its very position was an object of attack 
to both northern and southern Indians. The Cherokees 
from their lionies in Georgia and Tennessee had an easy, 
though long, entrance to the land over the Cuttawa war 
road. The northern Indians ^ from their greater proxi- 
mity were even more to be feared. These northern Indians 
usually acted together in a loose confederation under the 
leadership of the Shawnese.- This fierce and unforgiving 
people had its homes principally along the valleys of the 



1 Dodge, Bed Men of the Ohio Valley. Chap. I. 

2 Croghan in 1765 estimated their number at 300. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 17 

Scioto River. They were by no means destitute of towns, 
and at least two, under the names of Piqua and Chillicothe, 
attained considerable size and widespread notoriety. The 
Shawnese were not a savage or a nomadic people. They 
lived in the land of their fathers and could boast of, and 
apologize for, more than the ordinary advancement of an 
Indian tribe. They cultivated with success the rich valleys 
of the Scioto ; their abundant corn crops aroused the cupid- 
ity of their white neighbor and became in time of war the 
first and principal object of attack. They dwelt in sub- 
stantial houses and, after the settlement of Kentucky by 
the white man, came to possess considerable property in 
horses and slaves. Up to the last half of the seventeenth 
century they had dwelt on the banks of the Cumberland 
River in western Kentucky, and had given their name to 
that stream. In 1682 they fell under the sway of the 
widely conquering Iroquois and remained so until the down- 
fall of the latter. They were divided into many sections 
in different parts of the country, until finally in 1760 the 
whole people was united along the Scioto. The Shawnese, 
notwithstanding their nominal vassalage to the Iroquois, 
were of a warlike and enterprising nature. Ninety per 
cent, of the battles and outrages of early Kentucky might, 
with justice, be laid at their door. Their chieftains were 
as a rule men of distinction and often of great ability. The 
warriors though bloodthirsty in battle did not often avenge 
themselves on captives or prisoners. 

The Delawares had by 1750 diminished greatly in num- 
bers, valor and renown. They claimed and were acknowl- 
edged to be the most ancient of the aborigines. They, like 
the Shawnese, were now under the power of the Iroquois 
and had even been forced by the haughty confederacy to 
designate themselves '%omen." They had been removed 



18 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

by the Iroquois from their primitive homes in Delaware and 
Pennsylvania to the lands north of the Ohio. There they 
were settled on the banks of the Muskingum and Tusca- 
rawa rivers ; in the solitudes of their new environment they 
gradually came to possess many of their old-time virtues, 
and at the time of the American Revolution their chiefs 
exerted great influence in the affairs of the northern 
Indians. They were, in general, inclined to peace with the 
white man and only infrequently were induced by the fiercer 
Shawnese to unite with them in their bloody forays on the 
Kentucky settlements. Their warriors numbered some six 
hundred and fifty and had, united to the usual bravery and 
cunning of the Indian, a very unusual sense of justice and 
fairness. 

The Wyandots ^ were nominally Christians and lived 
along the banks of the Sandusky River. They were origin- 
ally of Iroquois stock and were called Hurons by the 
French. They were the bravest of the brave. In their 
expeditions against foes of whatever color or nation they 
abandoned themselves to the wildest atrocities. They were 
characterized by a perseverance and tenacity' of purpose 
rarely encountered among savages. They alone of the 
Indians preferred open fighting to ambuscade and pos- 
sessed the ability to continue a battle even when heavily 
punished. The ordinary Indian war party while not lack- 
ing in courage was not steadfast in fighting if its own 
loss was of any considerable extent; the Wyandots fought 
to the last man and would not retreat. While they less 
frequently took part in the forays into Kentucky they never 
entered tlie State without leaving a trail of blood and 
lamentation."* They were unconquered by the Iroquois and, 



3 Simon Girty was an honored member of the Wyandots. 
♦ Estill's defeat and the slaughter at Upper and l/ower Blue 
I.icks were due to the Wvandots. 



HISTORY OF riONEER KENTUCKY 19 

though with heavy losses, had brought to an abrupt and 
inglorious close the conquering march of that people 
towards the west. 

The Shawnese were the principal people that molested 
Kentucky from the north, and the Wyandots and the Dela- 
wares were their chief abettors. A few other tribes, how- 
ever, are worthy of notice. The Miamis dwelt along the 
Miami and the Maumee rivers. Their ancient name was 
Twigtce or Tawixti.^ They, like the other Indians, waged 
war with the Iroquois and were not finally worsed by them 
until 1702. The Mingoes were a mongrel tribe of Indians 
made up chiefly of refugees and outcasts from other tribes ; 
their main strength came from the Senecas of New York. 
They were a savage and vicious race but some of their 
leaders were men of much magnanimity. They dwelt in 
eastern Ohio. All these differing tribes lived lives of con- 
stant strife among themselves, yet on many occasions they 
showed themselves capable of laying aside their conten- 
tions and acting in close alliance. With the exception of 
the Wyandots they were all nominally tributary to the 
Iroquois. But the burden of their vassalage rested lightly 
upon them; in most essentials they were free. They num- 
bered, perhaps, some fifty thousand souls. 

From the south, Kentucky enjoyed comparative immun- 
ity from Indian attack. In fact the only tribe whom in- 
terest or propinquity impelled to warfare with the first 
Kentuckians was the Cherokees. This tribe, M'hen immi- 
gration was first directed to Kentucky, had its principal 
towns in eastern Tennessee. They had originally extended 
much farther north over the Alleghany region, but had 
gradually been driven south by the Iroquois and Shawnese. 



5 Croghan assigns 250 warriors each to the Wyandots and Twig- 
tees. Croghan's "Journal," Early Western Travels (ed. Thwaites). 



20 HISTORY OF TIONEER KENTUCKY 

Tlicy were of Iroquois stock und called themselves Ani- 
YunwivJX-*' Among themselves they were divided into three 
main divisions. Kach of these divisions spoke a differing 
dialect of the same language. Though as a people the 
Cherokees were confined to Tennessee and Georgia, they 
asserted a claim to all Kentucky as well. Moreover, they 
sold their claim at various prices and at different times.' 
While they made no attempt to occupy Kentucky, they 
were continually fighting for it and on its soil. The Shaw- 
nese were their great enemies, and the two rivals struggled 
without ceasing along the whole length of Cuttawa road. 
Yet for the most part the Cherokees respected their trea- 
ties and agreements with tlie white men. Occasionally they 
were induced b^^ the Shawnese to bury their ancestral enmity 
and aid in destroying the Kentucky settlers, but it must 
not be forgotten that the white men in their relation with 
both northern and southern Indians were often the ag- 
gressors. For the rest, the Cherokees, like most other 
Indian peoples, lived in fixed habitations and subsisted from 
the fruits of the field. They numbered about 2,500 warriors 
in 1750. They fled before the power, and sometimes 
acknowledged the suzerainty of the Iroquois. 

Among the standard American delusions, that one in 
which Kentucky is represented as a child of Virginia de- 
servedly holds a prominent position. A close study, indeed, 
of the older commonwealth will result in great benefit, inas- 
much as it will not fail to disclose how thoroughly Ken- 
tucky was not Virginian in origin, in customs or in ideals. 
Virginia's part in Kentucky's history will be found to con- 

e Mooney, "Myths of the Cherokees," in Nineteenth Report of the 
American Bureau of Ethnology. 
7 Notably to Henderson. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 21 

sist not so much in a contribution of settlers as in an oppor- 
tune abandonment of a very shadowy claim to sovereignty. 

Inasmuch as the aspirations and the movements of a 
people are for the most part a direct result of their eco- 
nomic environment, it becomes necessary to consider the 
industrial conditions of those sections from which the popu- 
lation of Kentucky was supposed to be drawn. For the 
peculiar economic development of Virginia, thanks must be 
given to the intricate workings of the organ popularly 
designated as the brain of James I. To the casual reader, 
the settlement of Virginia appears less a trading venture 
than an exploitation of this monarch's weird theories of 
government. He purposed to apply to the distant soli- 
tudes of America the same principles that Philip II had 
fastened upon the populous provinces of Holland ; the very 
lives of the colonists were to be regulated by the royal 
hand. But three thousand miles of stormy sea separated 
the government and the governed; the early control of 
England narrowed itself down to a careful framing of 
laws, the execution of which was prudently entrusted to 
divine Providence. For this reason the early Virginians 
were blessed with abundant laws and few restraints. 

The laws of King James would indicate that he was by 
no means prodigal with the lands whose possession he en- 
joyed through explorations and divine right. By a gift 
of fifty acres of land covered with forest and reeking with 
malaria, the London Company proposed to compensate 
the settler for a lost home, a perilous voyage and the pros- 
pect of an early grave. ^ Moreover for each colonist he 
succeeded, preferably by fair means, in bringing to the 
new world, an additional fifty acres was bestowed. The 
land laws of Virginia, as of Massachusetts, had for their 



8 Bruce, Economic History of Virginia. Passim. 



22 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

object a .sv-steni of small farms. But the laws of New Eng- 
land were framed by a home government ; the early regula- 
tions of Virginia were made and administered from across 
the sea. In consequence, while tlie New England laws were 
for the most part obeyed, those of Virginia were easily 
evaded. The absence of a strong home government and 
the presence of an obliging land office, contributed equally 
to establishing in Virginia a plantation system and a landed 
aristocracy. A large number of the plantations of Tide- 
water Virginia were built up of tracts taken out in the 
name of inunigrants who had no existence save in the fertile 
imagination of the planter by whom their passage was 
supposed to be paid. Ancestors and acquaintances long 
dead, and even horses and cows, lent their names toward 
securing additional land. Instances are not lacking of 
enterprising settlers copying from neighboring cemeteries 
the names of a generation dead and certifying them as 
bona fide immigrants. 

In this way was the plantation system established in 
Virginia ; it was perpetuated by the cultivation of tobacco 
and the consequent use of slave labor. The succeeding gen- 
erations were content to hold their possessions intact, and 
so far from increasing their estates they counted themselves 
fortunate to yilacate their creditors ; for tlie large estates, 
cultivated extensively and by slave labor, became to their 
owners not a source of profit but of positive loss. Nor was 
this condition the result entirely of the kind of labor or 
the manner of cultivation ; it was largely the result of 
incapable landlords. Probably never has history exhibited 
such prominent examples of incompetency and degeneracy 
as in colonial Virginia. For one hundred and seventy-five 
years the State was politically and economically at the 
feet of its aristocracy and in all that time it added not one 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 28 

respectable item to history. Year after year the planters 
fell more hopelessly in debt to their London creditors.^ The 
principle of primogeniture and the prevalence of indent- 
ured servants filled the land with "poor white trash" whom 
the very slaves despised. The descendants of this class, 
whom conscience or the lack of opportunity prevented from 
acquiring land, were as distinguished for their shiftless- 
ness as for their poverty. They sank lower and lower each 
generation; by 1750 they had lost all initiative and were 
living in such misery as to attract the attention of con- 
temporary writers. They were separated from the aris- 
tocracy by caste distinctions and joined to them by a 
mutual depravity. The settlement of a new land by any 
of these was about as probable as a descent of the Iguorrotes 
on the planet Venus. 

In Pennsylvania, as in New England, the small-farm 
system prevailed and for similar reasons. There was no 
land-monopolizing tendency as in Virginia and as a conse- 
quence no such sharp division into classes. Great wealth 
was as rare as extreme poverty. Slave labor had little part 
in the economic life ; the labor on each farm was done by 
the owner. Germans, Dutch, Swedes, and Scotch-Irish 
(who were neither Scotch nor Irish), were attracted to its 
domain by its lack of religious dissensions, security from 
Indian warfare, and, particularly, by its incentives to in- 
dustry and opportunities for prospering. Its population 
was heterogeneous and its people varied. The people were 
thrifty and keenly alive to all chances for bettering their 
worldly condition. In time when the country became more 
thickly settled and the best lands taken up, the character 



9 Bassett, Virginia Planter and London Merchant, American His- 
torical Association Report, 1901, Vol. I. 



24 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

and condition of the settlers enabled them readily to migrate 
to other regions. 

One of the most important of the migrations from this 
region followed southward the great valley which lies be- 
tween the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanics and is watered 
by the Shenandoah. The low ranges of the Blue Ridge had 
fonned an impenetrable barrier to the shiftless peasantry 
and effete aristocracy of the Tidewater Virginia, so tliat 
at the time of the Pennsylvania migration the valley was 
practically uninhabited. Into this poured the wave of im- 
migration from the north as a mighty river seeking a new 
channel. Many remained in the valley and established 
there the economic system of Pennsylvania as distinguished 
from that of Virginia.^" These pioneers were in but not 
of Virginia. They remained essentially Pennsylvanian in 
thought and custom and had no part in the social and poli- 
tical life of the State. Such of her population as Kentucky 
drew from Virginia came from this section and not from 
the preponderant Tidewater. Kentucky, then, was the 
child of Virginia in the same sense that the Plymouth 
colony Avas a child of the Dutch republic. 

But not all the Pennsylvanians settled in the Shenandoah 
A'allcy ; many went still farther southwai-d beyond the 
limits of the State into North Carolina. Here along the 
Yadkin and the Catawba lived a community that differed 
from the aristocracy of the eastern section of the State in 
the same degree that the valley men of Virginia differed 
from the Tidewater planters. Slaves were few, small farms 
were the rule, and everybody w^orked in the fields. But 
the soil along the Yadkin was far inferior to that along 
the Shenandoah and poverty was widespi'ead. Each man, 



10 Wayland, Oerman Element in the Shenandoah Valley. Passim. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 25 

for the most part, united in himself the occupations of 
farming, hunting and mechanic. They were a rough peo- 
ple and had little respect for authority ; the government 
was too far remote to be dreaded or even felt. But it would 
have, indeed, been difficult to find a more virile people than 
they. They were none the less independent because of 
their poverty ; their intelligence was as keen as their illit- 
eracy was widespread. They were far from peaceful in 
their private lives and their fearlessness in battle equalled 
that of the fiercest Wyandot. Driven to hunting for 
subsistence, oftentimes, on account of the barrenness of 
their farms, they were accustomed to distant and prolonged 
travels w^hich missed exploration only in name. They were 
peculiarly fitted above any body of men in English Amer- 
ica for the exploration and settling of a new and hazardous 
country. 

When the tide of immigration began to flow into Ken- 
tucky, it was from the Shenandoah Valley, the backwoods 
of Pennsylvania and the frontiers of Carolina, that the 
mass of settlers came. Despite the absence of Indian in- 
habitants, the occupation of Kentucky was a task demand- 
ing men of the strongest caliber. The settlers must need 
be men of the most rugged mold, prompt in action and 
enduring in defeat. There was a work to be done that no 
weakling could do. In the men of the Yadkin and the 
Shenandoah there was found a type capable of doing the 
work. So clearly did their fitness display itself in the 
history of early Kentucky that we are prone to designate 
them, in the phrase, that Filson applied to Boone, as "in- 
struments ordained to settle the wilderness." Had the 
settlement of Kentucky depended on the achievements of 
Tidewater Virginians, it would be at this moment a king- 
dom of red Indians and a pasture for wild buffaloes. 



26 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

In the settlement of a new land there arc, in general, 
three motives that impel the emigrant. These motives are 
desire for riclies, a wish to escape pei'secution at home, 
and a love for adventure. 

But the men of Pennsylvania, of Carolina, and of the 
Shenandoah Valley had experienced nothing in the line of 
persecution beyond an occasional quarrel with the Quakers 
in Pennsylvania, or the forcible seizure of some property 
for tax. Indeed, the temperament of these men was such 
that in any instance of persecution they were likely to be 
the aggressors rather than the sufferers. Nor was the 
economic condition in their homes at all to be deplored. 
They were poor, but not paupers ; they held in their own 
hands the means, if not the material, of peniianent pros- 
perity. As for the Yadkin men, though their fanms were 
small they were not exhausted and would have riclily re- 
paid steady cultivation. But steady cultivation above all 
things they could not in the nature of things receive. The 
necessit}^, as well as the love of hunting, frequently called 
the farmer away when his presence was most necessary at 
home. Sporadic Indian attacks added another element of 
uncertainty to farming. But the same conditions prevailed 
or were thought to prevail in Kentucky, except that the 
land was more fertile. So a removal to Kentucky' by these 
men could have added neither greater steadiness nor security 
to their labor. The condition of the vallc}^ men and the 
Pennsylvanians was even better than that of the Yadkin 
settlers. Their farms were more fertile and their settlements 
more compact. They were thus less frequently called on to 
supplement by the spoils of hunting, the fruits of agricul- 
ture. Their location exposed them less to Indian attack. 
In all three sections free land could still be easily obtained. 
Only to a very little extent had the people become crowded. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 27 

Notwithstanding this, the abundance of free land in Ken- 
tucky and the prospect of acquiring a new home at little 
or no cost, must have been a decided influence in attracting 
immigrants. This influence was stronger when the coun- 
try became more settled and better known. 

By far the strongest motive in the early settlement of 
Kentucky and at the beginning practically the only one, 
was the love of adventure. The Alleghany Mountains 
were as gi*eat an incentive to the imagination of the fron- 
tiersman as they were an impediment to his movements. 
What lay beyond the blue haze of their ranges was a mat- 
ter of much mystery and pleasing speculation. From time 
to time itinerant peddlers or traders wandered into the 
valley and related wondrous stories of their adventures be- 
yond the mountains. At harvest times, on hunting trips, 
or around the huge fireplaces in the dead of winter Ken- 
tucky was the chief subject of conversation. When game 
became scarce around their homes the farmer-hunters could 
but cast longing looks towards Kentucky where, if there 
was any truth in report, was a kingdom of game of all 
kinds, from the wild turkey to the buff'alo. The wide soli- 
tudes of Kentucky bore a special charm for those of the 
settlers who disliked the presence of many neighbors. To 
the pioneers the thought of wandering unrestrained through 
the silent forest, of sleeping under open skies and of liv- 
ing for indefinite time without human companionship, was 
so far from being terrifying that it was their ideal of exis- 
tence. They were the true hermits. Nor did the proba- 
bility of an encounter with the Indians detract from the 
charm of the western country. The attitude of the set- 
tlers towards the Indians was by no means so sentimental as 
that of many of their descendants today. Their opinion 
and their treatment of them is suggested by the name which 



28 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

they applied to them. In their eyes all Indians, male and 
female, were "varmints." An Indian to them was very much 
the same as a snake or weasel to ourselves. And the early 
Kentuckians were not peculiar in this respect ; an over- 
whelming majority of the English race in America held 
the same opinion. The French and Spanish settlers did 
not hesitate to intermarry and intermingle with the Indians. 
But the English race, notwithstanding the celebrated union 
of Rolfe and Pocahontas, held itself aloof. Where the 
French proselyted and the Spanish exterminated, the Eng- 
lish were content to despise. Though the Indian some- 
times inspired them with pity and often with fear the most 
constant feeling was one of unmitigated loathing. The 
killing of an Indian was considered, if not a passport to 
paradise, at least an act highly commendable in itself. Evi- 
dently to men possessing such ideals, Indian fighting in 
Kentucky was a great attraction. 

However pleasant might be the speculations in regard 
to Kentuck}^ physical entrance into it was by no means 
easy. There were, indeed, but two practicable routes from 
the east ; one was the Ohio River at the north and the 
other the Cumberland Gap at the extreme southeast. The 
Ohio River which skirts the entire northern boundary of 
Kentucky is formed in western Pennsylvania by the junc- 
tion of the Alleghany and the Monongahela. Its name 
is a contraction and a corruption of tlic word Youghio- 
gheny. The Allegheny and its tributaries drain the north- 
western portion of Pennsylvania and even a small section 
of New York. The INIonongahela, flowing from the oppo- 
site direction, drains the southwestern portion of Penn- 
sylvania and much of wliat is now West Virginia. These 
two rivers unite at Pittsburg, which became at an early 
date the chief point of departure for those seeking Ken- 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 29 

tucky from the north. The distance from Pittsburg to 
Maj^sville is almost four hundred miles and it required 
many weeks to make the trip. Nevertheless, after the 
first few years this became the chief route into the land. 

In the extreme southeast corner of Kentucky lay Cum- 
berland Gap. Here Kentucky forms a corner with Vir- 
ginia on the boundary of Tennessee ; here, too, the Cum- 
berland Mountains have narrowed to a single range be- 
tween two valleys. In the eastern valley rises the Powell 
branch of the Tennessee and in the western valley is found 
the beginning of the Cumberland. For a considerable 
distance the courses of the two rivers are parallel and 
separated only by the single ridge of the Cumberland. 
This ridge is continuous and difficult of crossing save at 
one place where there is a pass or gap. Passing through 
this, the Cumberland, the immigrant had but to follow 
the windings of the Cumberland River until it bursts 
through the Pine Mountains, when he would find himself 
well into the interior of Kentucky. This was the route 
taken by the earlier immigrants who were drawn almost 
exclusively from the Shenandoah and Yadkin River re- 
gions. 

There was a third route, though but little used; it was 
to follow the Greenbrier River through the mountains un- 
til it reached the Ohio. The wild and forbidding country 
through which this passed practically prohibited its use. 



80 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 



PREHISTORIC KENTUCKY. 

nr^HERE arc many traditions to indicate, and a few 
■*' slircds of evidence to prove, that in the far past Ken- 
tucky supported an advanced and extensive civilization. 
Nor was it a civilization whose greatness or decline has, 
like the Roman, left its influence largely written on suc- 
ceeding ages. It has vanished wholly ; the Kentuckians of 
toda}' owe nothing of good or evil to its existence and have 
no link to connect them with its remains. Yet as this 
civilization existed on the same soil as we, it becomes the 
duty, if not the pleasure, of the historian of Kentuck}' to 
investigate the remains and describe, if he may, its history. 
The Delawares, whom the Indians of every tribe ad- 
dressed in reverence of their antiquity as "grandfathers," ^ 
were accustomed to rehite as an ancient and authentic tradi- 
tion that eastern North America was at one time occupied 
and possessed by a white people. The Indian name for 
these was Allegcwi.^ They were no savages or nomads 
but a nation of fixed habitation and great culture. Whence 
they had come or when, are points upon whicli the tradi- 
tions are silent. But the traditions of the Delawares, the 
Sacs, the Shawncse and even other tribes attest the fact 
of their presence, their civilization and their power. In 
the dim past, continue the traditions, the savage Iroquois 
emerged from the great western country ^ and began to 
hew their conquering way to their present abode. The 
Delawares at the same time beccan their mio-ration to the 



1 The Iroquois, liowever, would address them only as "nephews." 

2 The AUegewi left their name on the Allegheny Mountains and 
River. 

3 Heckwelder, Indian Nations, Chap. I. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 81 

east but took a route much south of the Iroquois. Both 
tribes were confronted and halted on the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi ^ by the strange Allegewi. But though the Iroquois 
forced their way resistlessly across, the weaker Delawares 
were treacherously assailed in mid-stream and all but de- 
stroyed by their foes. The Iroquois and Delawares soon 
formed an alliance and began a merciless war against their 
common enemy. The Allegewi in a number of terrific 
battles were driven southward and finally stood desperately 
at bay in their favorite land, Kentucky. Here they built 
huge mounds for fortifications, for burial places, and for 
temples. How long their last stand respited the Allegewi 
no one knows, but finally at the falls of the Ohio they 
staked their lives and fortunes on the issue of one great 
battle and lost. Their people were expelled and their civil- 
ization forgotten. 

Each reader of these traditions may give or withhold 
his belief according to his character. A candid mind, how- 
ever, will fail to find in them anything of the improbable 
with the possible exception of the "white" color. The 
fact of a primitive alliance of the Delawares and the Iro- 
quois is a well attested one. And the eastward migration 
of the Iroquois, if not the Delawares, is an event so well 
known as to require no proof. No legend or tradition, 
moreover, if depicting the internecine strife of the Indians, 
need be considered wild or improbable. But in the absence 
of corroborative evidence an impartial seeker after truth 
would be slow to accept, on the authority of a savage tradi- 
tion, the idea of a white race and a great civilization in 
a country' of red barbarism. 



4 Rafinesqiie. Brinton, in his Walam Olum, says this was the 
Ohio. The Delawares called the Ohio the AUegewi-Sipu. 



32 HISTOUY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

When the Indians related these traditions to the first 
settlers, they observed that wlien the waters of tlie Ohio 
became low an island would be formed at the falls whereon 
the doubting white men might find evidence of the truth 
of their relation. When the waters fell the island was 
found to be covered with innumerable bones. ^ These, said 
tlie Indians, were the skeletons of the Allegewi who had 
perished here in the last battle; it, of course, gave no ex- 
planation who the Allegewi were, what their color, or 
whence their origin. Indians of all tribes more than once 
expressed their astonishment that white men could dwell 
in the Kentucky land where, they asserted, the ghosts and 
the specters of the dead nations roamed eternally. They 
professed to believe that Kentucky was a land of blootl and 
spirits wherein it was unholy for any man, white or red, 
to dwell. 

Inasmuch as the Indians had obvious reasons for wish- 
ing to create in the white men a horror and dread of Ken- 
tucky, their statements in regard to its haunted character 
must be received, and were, at a considerable discount. 

The Cherokees of Georgia were called in their own 
language Ani-Yunwiya, "real people" ; and Ani-Ketu- 
waghi, "people of Kitwuha," an ancient settlement.^ They 
were also called in the Mobilian trade language Tsalagi, 
"people of the caves ;" they were known to the Six Na- 
tions as Oyatagcron, "inhabitants of the cave country," 
and by the Catawbas they were called IVIanterau, "coming 
out of the ground." But the Delaware Allegewi literally 
means "cave people." And considering the indubitable fact 
that the Cherokees were known far and wide as the cave 
dwellers, the conclusion seems certain that by "Allegewi" 



B Young, Prehistoric Men of Kentucky, p. 4. 

8 The name Kituwha was commonly corrupted to Cuttawa. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 33 

the Dclawares meant the Cherokees. Furthermore tlic tradi- 
tions of the Cherokees in regard to their migration from 
the north agree in every essential point with the Delaware's 
tradition of the Allegewi.^ The Wyandots identified the 
Cherokees as Allegewi and affirmed that the latter were 
driven south from their fortification in the Ohio valley by 
the Iroquois. The Cherokees, or Allegewi, were near kins- 
men of the Iroquois and the truth perhaps may be that 
"in ancient times as in the historic period they were always 
the southern vanguard of the Iroquoian race, always pri- 
marily a mountain people, but with their flank resting upon 
the Ohio and its great tributaries, following the trend of 
the Blue Ridge and the Cumberland as they slowly gave 
way before the pressure from the north until they were 
finally cut off" from tlie parent stock by the wedge of 
Algonquian invasion, but always, whether in the north or 
south, keeping their distinctive titles among the tribes as 
the people of the cave country." 

The Delaware traditions have it that the war of the 
Iroquois and the Tallegewi or Allegewi continued during 
the reigns or leadership of five successive chiefs.^ There 
was a succession, furthermore, of twenty-five chiefs from 
the conquest of the Allegewi to the coming of white men. 
It would be impossible to express in years the time repre-, 
sented by the inile of these chieftains, but that the expul- 
sion of the Allegewi occurred in a time far past is shown 
clearly by the many dialectic differences that came to dis- 
tinguish the Cherokees from the parent Iroquois. 

The traditions of all tribes agree in attributing to the 
Allegewi the mounds tliat were scattered all over Kentucky 



" Mooney, "Myths of the Cherokees," in Nineteenth Report of 
American Bureau of Ethnology. 

8 Brinton, "Walam Olurn," in Lenape and their Legends. 



84 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

and the Ohio valley. Inasmuch as the character of a peo- 
ple may often be, in a great measure, ascertained or at 
least conjectured from their remains, a study of the mounds 
should throw light on the mound builders and aid in de- 
termining whether they were Indians or a white race that 
has perished from the earth. 

A consideration of the mounds erected in ancient Ken- 
tucky shows that they were built of different forms and 
for varying purposes. Many have been cut down and 
the evidence thereby secured proves indubitably that they 
were erected for burial places. Others show by their size 
and contour that they were intended to be used for forti- 
fications in a great and extensive warfare. By far the 
majority of the mounds used for burial places were built 
in a conical form with an altitude of eight or ten feet, 
but sometimes reaching as high as forty. Within these 
were found the bones of men and women buried centuries 
ago. Nor was the style of burying at all uniform. A 
mound cut down at ]\It. Sterling contained, although it 
Mas of considerable extent, but a single skeleton buried 
at the center. Around the skeleton, neai'cr the outer edge 
of the mound, were found many remains of primitive art 
of so much importance in character and amount as to 
justify the conclusion that the mound wjis the mausoleum 
of a great chief .^ The Mobcrly mound in Madison County, 
contained six skeletons, around whom were found many 
remains of primitive weapons conclusively showing that 
it was the grave of warriors. Indeed, in the femur of 
one skeleton was still remaining, deeply imbedded, the 
spearhead tliat must have caused death. A very peculiar 
mound was that known as the Lindsay mound in Union 



Young, Prehistoric Men of Kentucky, p. 81. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 85 

County. Here there was no burial at the center but the 
skeletons were found placed each with the head towards 
the center and the feet out, "similar to the spokes of a 
wheel." Moreover, Avithin the mound were found many 
tiers of skeletons, the lowest of which was accompanied 
by no pottery or other remains. This was conjectured to 
be the burial place of the common people as distinguished 
from that of .the chiefs or leaders. Numerous over the 
State are the mounds of pyramidal forms. They are 
rarely found containing bones, and generally are closely 
connected with other remains of a warlike nature. Per- 
haps the most remarkable of this class was that in Ballard 
County ;^'^ its base contained fifteen acres and it was but 
a few feet in height. Smaller mounds were scattered over 
its surface. Occasionally the mounds were made in the 
form of animals as, for instance, the great bear effigy 
in Greenup County. 

As the author of the Prehistoric Men of Kentucky has 
said, the pioneers knew little, and cared less, for the an- 
cient mounds that they encountered in Kentucky. Indeed, 
in the early days while the land was yet unrobbed of its 
forests, the majority of the mounds escaped detection. 
After the ground began to be cleared and the soil culti- 
vated, the settlers noticed the mounds and inquired their 
origin. The Indians said that they knew nothing of them ; 
that they were erected by a people earlier than they. The 
emergencies of a pioneer life forbade the settler to turn 
his attention to archaeological research. So the mounds, 
as any other land, were soon converted into cornfields, 
and plowshare in a few years levelled their elevation and 
destroyed their contents. Thus perished what, perhaps. 



10 Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. II, p. 39. 



86 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

could have tlirown <Trcat liglit on tlic entire question of 
the mounds, their purpose, and their huilders. 

Yet the burial mounds were not the only remains of 
the ancient inhabitants of the land. Even more striking, 
though not so numerous, were the fortifications they built 
during the course of that great war in which they de- 
fended and lost Kentucky. In Hickman County still 
exists the ancient work known as O'Byam's Fort.^^ It is 
located on a bluff whose southern end drops vertically 
almost fifty feet. There was a sloping ascent from its 
northern end, but it was blocked at the summit by a wall 
and ditch. This wall measures some eighteen feet, and 
is discontinued at the steep southern end. It has man}' 
times been pronounced the best chosen position for de- 
fense in the entire region ; its selection plainly shows that 
its builders, whether Indian or others, possessed great 
talent for military things. 

Indeed, even a casual investigation of these ancient forts 
can not fail to show the unusual cunning displayed in 
the selection of their sites. Practically all are located on 
steep bluffs where some sides are fortified by nature; 
considerable art is displayed in the protection of the sides 
exposed to attack. These features are all to be seen at 
their best in fortifications scattered all over the land and 
notable in the fort on Green River near Bowling Green 
in Caldwell County, in Larue County and in Hardin Coun- 
ty. The similarity of these show that they were probably 
all erected by the same people and their very existence 
indicates defensive warfare. Perhaps the most wonderful 
of the forts of these olden times is the one on Indian Fort 
Mountain in Madison County. The mountain rises pre- 



" Cynis Thomas, in Twelfth Annual Report of the American 
Bureau of Ethnology. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 37 

cipitously from the plain to an elevated height ; it is prac- 
tically unscalable at all points save the east. Here a long* 
ridge of nearly a mile gradually sinks to the plain and 
gives a means of ascent from the valley to the summit of 
the mountain. But at the point where this ridge enters 
the top of the mountain the ancient people constructed, 
and there still exists, a huge stone wall three hundred and 
eighty-seven feet long. This wall, built on a steep slope, 
is sixty feet high on its outer side and five on the inner. 
As is shown by the nature of many of the stones, they 
must have been quarried in the valley and carried thence 
to the summit. Some of these are of five hundred pounds 
weight. The top is level and contains four or five hundred 
acres. At several places on the other and precipitate 
sides, walls were erected, evidently because the builders be- 
lieved these points pregnable to attack. Furthermore, 
on the top of the cliffs in various places may still be seen 
the stones heaped up in ages past to be hurled down on 
the enemy below. The fort, by reason of its size and 
strength, must have served as the great rallying place for 
a harassed nation.'^ 

In the burial mounds, the fortifications and the caves 
of the land, have been found various remains that reveal 
the dress, the occupation and the civilization of the mound 
builders. ^^ Their clothing was made of tanned skins, of 
combed cloth and feathers, and of a cloth made of flax 
and the bark of trees. And in the preparation of the 
cloth they evidently had the knowledge of many dyes. 
They wore moccasins made of bark cloth, and the number 
of moccasins found prove the universal custom of wearing 
them. They had the use of coarse needles made of bone. 



12 Young, Prehistoric Men of Kentucky, p. 75. 
i3/6mZ., p. 100. 



88 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

and of thread rudely made of hide, the bark or the wild 
hemp. Copper spools were in use. As a weapon they used 
a battle-axe weighing from one to thirty pounds, a battle- 
axe blade formed of flint and measuring five by three 
inches, and the bow and arrow. The arrowheads were 
probably in many cases dipped in poison. The spear and 
the flint knives were also in use. In his home life the 
mound builder used tiie stone axe for felling the trees, 
pestles and mortar in the preparation of corn, meats and 
nuts for food. The number found of these would indicate 
that the domestic life of their makers was more advanced 
than the ordinary Indian people. The pottery remains 
arc likewise extensive and show great originality and con- 
siderable art. The manufactured fishhooks from bone and 
fashioned pipes of all sizes and designs from sandstone 
and steatite. Finally, by the remains, we can perceive 
that they worshipped idols of a peculiarly atrocious ap- 
pearance. 

The mound builders have been considered in the liglit 
of Delaware tradition and their identity with the Chero- 
kees has been suggested. It has been endeavored by a 
consideration of the mounds, the forts, and the articles of 
dress, domestic life and military, to arrive at some facts 
by which their civilization and identity might be deter- 
mined. It now remains to hazard an opinion and, if may 
be, present the proof that the mound builders were not a 
peculiar or a vanished race but were red Indians calling 
themselves Kituwhagi and called by the English the Cher- 
okees. 

From the standpoint of tradition, as already set forth, 
the testimony is overwhelming that the mound builders 
were called Allegewi, and the Allegewi were the same peo- 
ple as the Cherokees. The unusual and striking agree- 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 89 

ment of the many tribal traditions on this point must in 
the absence of controverting testimony, be received as an 
evidence of its truth, notwithstanding the notorious unre- 
liability of Indian legends. Then, if an examination of 
the remains discloses no opposing evidence, it may fairly 
be assumed tliat the identity of the two people was real. 
But nothing in the character of these remains would sug- 
gest that tliey are the remains of another race than the 
Indians. ^^ It is a fact, undoubtedly true, that the Indians 
of North America built mounds even in the historic period. 
They are not the exclusive product of Kentucky but are 
scattered all over the country. Furthermore, they are dis- 
similar one to another in many respects, indicating that 

^ — they were erected not b}^ a united people but by a people 

J broken up into many separate tribes. There could have 
been no work involved in their construction that the Indians 

fj could not do, nor a culture that the Indians did not possess. 

^ —Though some are of considerable size, their proportions 
'1^ are as a rule so greatly exaggerated by writers as to sug- 

gest that Baron Munchausen may have fathered the theory 
of their origin and the report of their size. The Indians 
were not without knowledge of such simple geometrical fig- 
ures as the square, circle, octagon, etc., which are used in 
the design of the mounds. Nor is the assertion of the 
Indians that they knew nothing of the Kentucky mounds 
'""of any moment ; the greatness of Indian ignorance, on even 
recent events is of such a character that if it were accepted 
as historical evidence the universe would quickly be re- 
duced to void. The methods of burial in the mounds were 
peculiarly Indian. Finally, when the white men reached 
America they found the Indians engaged in erecting and 



14 Thomas, "Mound Explorations," in the Tenth Annual Report 
of the Bureau of Ethnology. 



40 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

utilizing the mounds ; many of those excavated have been 
found to contain articles of European manufacture. 

In the case of the fortifications, the conclusion must 
perforce be the same. These, too, are scattered over the 
country, and not limited to Kentucky. Their number and 
position indicate, not a warfare between two great na- 
tions, but an internecine strife. The skill shown in the 
selection of their sites and the labor used in their building 
are such as the Indians were fully capable of displaying. 
In historic times, if there is any value in the testimony 
of white men, they were engaged in work of similar mag- 
nitude and for similar purposes. Notwithstanding many 
theories to the contrary, the American Indians wore not 
nomads ; they had as a rule fixed habitations to which they 
invariably returned, no matter how far they had wan- 
dered afield. 

The finding of the mortars and pestles, the cloth, the 
needles and thread, prove that the mound builders were 
people of agricultural pursuits, of skill in weaving, and 
ingenuity in fabricating tools. Yet all the southern 
Indians were the same. The evidence is overwhelming 
that the Chorokees lived on the fruits of the field and 
were considerably advanced in the arts of agriculture. 
They wore clothes made from home-spun flax, and that 
they understood the use of tools is shown by their possess- 
ing and utilizing mines of copper. The pottery of the 
mound builders differs in no essential from the pottery of 
the various Indian tribes and savage chieftains, from Hud- 
son Bay to Florida, pledged their solemn treaties in calumets 
that were unchanged from the time of the battle of Sandy 
Island. 

It is pleasing, and perhaps profitable, to the imagina- 
tion, to picture olden Kentucky as a gloomy land peopled 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 41 

by the ghosts of the ancient dead, the superstitious Indians 
visiting it only in reverence, the very trees redolent of 
mystery. But though less pleasant to imagine, it is safer 
to believe that the desolation of the country was more due 
to the fear of an Iroquois tomahawk than to veneration 
of a fallen empire or dread of a spectral foe. 



42 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 



EXPLORATION OF KENTUCKY. 

Op HE process of detennining who was the first man to 
-'- explore Kentucky is as unprofitable as it is difficult. 
The mere entering or crossing the land can not, unless 
the visit bore fruit, be considered as a part of State his- 
tory, however much it interested or lamented the visitor. 
Without doubt, it was no unusual occurrence for a trader, 
a hunter, or even a missionary, to be led by zeal or acci- 
dent into the Kentucky country. Indeed, if we may trust to 
legend or its colleague, early history, Kentucky, even before 
1750, had a score of explorers whose adventui'es were as 
man^elous as those recorded by Dean Swift or by Marco 
Polo. Many of these left records of their travels. But 
these records, except as showing the sameness of colonial 
sufferings and displaying the imaginative capacity of the 
writers, bear no more relation to Kentucky history than 
do the precepts of the Zend-Avesta. The real history 
of Kentucky may be said to begin with the expedition 
of Dr. Thomas Walker in 1750. 

-^ The Americans in 1750 possessed many desires and few 
opportunities for acquiring great fortunes. Morever, 
then, as now, the far off and distant enterprises were 
those that possessed the greatest attractions. The men 
of the coast region found far greater pleasure in esti- 
mating the profits to be derived from western speculation 
than in turning the attention to the routine of business at 
home. Indeed, the plan of acquiring and exploiting trans- 
montane lands seems to have been a favorite before all 
others with the then seekers of riches. From time to time 
their wishes and desires took practical shape in the form- 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 43 

ing of land companies for the utilizing of vacant and 
unsettled lands in the west. In the years 1748 and IT-iQ 
two such companies ^ were formed which, although failing 
of their main object, are of considerable interest from 
their relation to Kentucky history. In 1748 Hanbury, a 
London merchant, Thomas Lee, president of the Virginia 
Council, Robert Dinwiddie, later governor of Virginia, 
Lawrence and Augustine Washington, and others, formed 
the Ohio Company. They received by royal permission 
five hundred thousand acres of land between the Kentucky 
and the Monongahela rivers, and the privilege of settling 
it at their own risk. Their land was to be located in the 
western wilderness on both banks of the Ohio, In 1749 
the Tioyal Land Compan}' v.as formed and given eight 
hundred thousand acres to be located indefinitely in the 
west, north of 36° 30'. 

The Loyal Land Company, though the last to be 
organized, was the first to begin work. In the winter of 
1749 they commissioned Dr. Thomas Walker of Albemarle 
County, Virginia, to explore the western country and 
report concerning its character. Dr. Walker began his 
journey in March, 1750, nowithstanding the bad season. 
With five companions ^ he set out for the southwest and 
entered Kentucky by way of Cumberland Gap. Had his 
movements been determined by a complete knowledge of 
the country he was seeking, he could not possibly have 
chosen a worse region for exploration. He named the gap 
through which he passed the Cumberland, and gave the 
same name to the Shawnee River which he discovered a 
little later. On April 23d, the little company liad reached 



1 Johnson, First Exploration of Kentucky, Introduction. 

2 Powell, Tomlinson, Chew, J.awless and Hughes. The parly was 
well mounted and took along two extra horses for baggage. 



U HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

a point on the Cumberland River some four miles below 
the present Barbousville. Here three men were left whilo 
Dr. Walker and the others pressed on in search of a better 
country. They soon returned in disappointment and found 
their companions had erected some cabins in their absence.^ 
The united company pressed on westward until on May 
11th they reached a river, which from its banks of shelving 
rock they named Rockcastle. To the five tributaries of 
this stream were given the names of Walker's companions ; 
he, himself, modestly refrained from thus handing down 
his name to posterity. On Rockcastle River they made a 
four days' stop to make shoes for themselves. On May 
22d, they reached the Kentucky River which Dr. Walker 
named the Milley. Then sore in body and spirit they 
turned their faces towards Virginia. They had entered 
the land the middle of April and left it the middle of June ; 
they had succeeded in traversing the worst possible section 
of the country and in viewing it at the most unpromising 
time of the year. They had caught not a glimpse of 
the Bluegrass. By chance, or lack of enterprise, they 
failed utterly to find the region they sought. No wonder, 
then, if when they reached Virginia they spread reports 
that were far from complimentary to Kentucky. 

Much more fortunate was the Ohio Company in the 
choosing of an explorer, or the selection of his route. 
Their choice fell on Christopher Gist,^ a Yadkin man and 
a tried explorer. He was instructed to explore the western 
country as far as the Falls of the Ohio and to locate the 
Company's grant. Gist, in company with a negro servant, 
began his journey from Old Town on the Potomac, the 



8 These may fairly be called the first cabins in Kentucky. The 
remnants of the old chimney is still standing. 
* He was a near neighbor to Boone. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 45 

last day of October, 1750. He proceeded to Shannopin 
Town, the present Pittsburg, then through Ohio until 
he reached tlie Scioto River. He descended the Scioto to 
the Shawnee town, Shannoah, at its mouth, which he 
reached January 30, 1751. In order to ascertain the 
strength of the northern Indians, he made from Shannoah 
a wide detour of one hundred and fifty miles to the Twig- 
tee towns. Returning to Shannoah he crossed over into 
Kentucky, March 12th. He visited Big Bone Lick and 
secured for his employers a mastodon's tooth weighing five 
pounds. A few days later he reached and crossed the 
Licking at the Lower Blue Licks. An accommodating 
Indian had volunteered the information ^ that he was noAv 
within fifteen miles of the Falls of the Ohio, and that the 
surrounding country was infested by French and Indians. 
Whether to the Indian mind fifteen and one hundred and 
fifty are synonymous terms or whether the information 
was given in bad faith. Gist, at least, gave up all thoughts 
of visiting the Falls and turned his attention and his 
course to the south. He penetrated the Bluegrass, crossed 
the Kentucky and the Red rivers and from the summit of 
Pilot Knob, in what is now Powell County, looked over the 
wide plain of central Kentucky. After spending some time 
in viewing and exploring the land, he crossed the Cum- 
berland Mountains and returned to Virginia by Pound Gap 
and later proceeded to his old home on the Yadkin.*' 

The expeditions of Gist and Walker were similar, in 
that both had traversed a country desolate of men. But 
Walker had spent his entire time floundering through the 



5 This information had been given him by an Indian at Shannoah. 

6 Two years later, Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, 
suspecting the French activities along the Ohio, called upon Gist to 
guide Washington on an investigating journey. 



46 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

thickets and defiles of the mountains, wliile Gist had pene- 
trated to the heart of Kentucky. The Virginian had seen 
only the worst of Kentucky ; the Carolinian had traversed 
the best. To Walker, the land was rough, infertile, abound- 
ing in venomous snakes and beasts of prey ; to Gist, it was 
a country of plains and a region of magnificent game. 
Walker's report was such as to discourage his employers 
and friends from further efforts to settle the land ; the 
story of Gist incited the Ohio Company to fresh efforts 
and inflamed the already ardent spirits of his Yadkin 
neighbors. However, the intervention of the French and 
Indian war put an end to the activities of both companies 
and left Kentucky without a visitor almost for fifteen years. 
Two years after the journeys of Walker and Gist, Lewis 
Evans of Philadelphia, made a map of Kentucky from in- 
formation he had acquired from the two and from traders. 
This map was published by Benjamin Franklin and was 
republished in 1755. Considering the prevailing ignor- 
ance of the western country and the astounding unrelia- 
bility of the traders' information, the map is surprising 
in its accuracy and extent. Although the English settlers 
of that day were by no means given to the reading of 
many books, it is highly probable that the Evans map fell 
into the hands of many restless spirits and excited their 
desire, while it increased their knowledge of Kentucky. 
But the only actual explorers of whom we have a record 
of visiting Kentucky in all that troubled time, were John 
Finley in 1752, and James IMcBride two years later."^ 
Finley was a frontier trader, trading back and forth with 
the Ohio Indians. From them he gathered such reports 
of Kentuckv as to arouse in him a desire to visit it. In 



^ Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. II, p. 164. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 47 

1752, with three or four companions, he came down the 
Ohio in canoes to the Falls. Returning, he fell in with 
a band of Shawnese at Big Bone Lick. They carried 
him a prisoner to their post, Eskippakitliiki, in central 
Kentucky. Here he was kept, probably not unwillingly, 
until January, 1753, when foreseeing trouble among the 
various tribes there assembled, he made his escape and 
returned home, destined to do much at a later time for 
the settlement of Kentucky. 

There is little evidence that McBride really visited Ken- 
tucky. The story was that he, with several companions, 
came down the Ohio in canoes and landed at the mouth of 
the Kentucky.^ He cut the date and his initials on a tree. 
Nothing is known of his subsequent career, and for many 
years he was believed to be the first explorer of Kentucky, 
until the investigations of later historians revealed the 
error. 

The great French and Indian war, beginning in 1754, 
absorbed the interest and resources of the English. For 
nine years it was waged furiously over the wide expanse 
of America, from Quebec to liookout Mountain. The 
French carried with them into the war their Indian neigh- 
bors of the northwest, and all but succeeded in detaching 
the Iroquois from their long alliance. While the war 
was in progress, and the Indians kept the field, there was 
little prospect of white visitors in Kentucky. And even 
when the war was ended and the French in yielding their 
dominions had pledged their late allies to peace, the com- 
pact was but indifferently observed on both sides. The 
Indians were far from liking their new masters ; they and 
the forest-loving French had many things in common, but 



8 Filson, Description of Kentucky, p. 7. 



48 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

they differed from the English as the east from the west. 
Each race lived in constant suspicion of the other, and, 
as is usual, a suspicion of injury hrought on the injury 
itself. For these reasons the exploration of Kentucky, 
which had ceased during the war, was slow to be renewed 
when the war was ended. 

But it was not alone the attitude of the Indians that 
prevented, or at least retarded, exploration. Immediately 
after the war was ended by the treaty of Paris, the King 
of England issued a proclamation forbidding his "loving 
subjects" from settling or even possessing the lands west 
of the mountains. His proclaimed object was to keep the 
territory for the use of the Indians perpetually. But 
the English colonists had views far different from these 
and treated the King's decree with the same quality of 
reverence that they had shown to the earlier Navigation 
Acts. Even the commissioners chosen for drawing the 
line that should separate the two races deliberately dis- 
regarded their instructions, and instead of making the 
Kanawha the western limit of Virginia, they surveyed and 
induced the Iroquois to approve a line running down the 
Ohio and terminating at the Tennessee.'' This opened up 
Kentucky to the colonists, or at least gave them access 
to it as far as governmental permission was able to effect it. 

It is necessary to consider one other event that bade 
well to close Kentucky permanently to tlie English. This 
was the war of Pontiac. Pontiac was a chief of the Ottawas 
and one of the many Indians who brooded sullenly over 
the changed relations of white men and red after the 
treaty of Paris. But while others were only ready to 
complain, Pontiac speedily prepared to oppose. He se- 



Sir Mllliam Johnson and John Stuart, two royal Commissioners 
of Indian A if airs, had charge of the work. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 49 

cretl3' and rapidly fanned the flames of Indian discontent, 
bound the jealous tribes together in a cohesive fighting 
mass, made and matured his plans with transcendent skill, 
and finally struck at the hated English such a swift and 
terrible blow that only three forts of a multitude escaped 
the well-plotted destruction.^" Even the Senecas joined 
him in his efforts. For the moment, the English power 
in America had more to dread at the hands of the des- 
perate Indians than ever from Frenchmen or Spaniards. 
But the qualities that had enabled the English to build 
up their power in the desert and the forest stood them in 
good stead now. They rallied and fought with unyielding 
tenacity and merciless power. After two years of such 
atrocities as perhaps America had never before witnessed. 
Bouquet penetrated the Indian territory with a force as 
wild, as ferocious, and as subtle as the Indians themselves 
and forced the reluctant tribes to peace. It does not re- 
quire a seer to conjecture, nor a prophet to predict that in 
this time Kentucky was by no means a Mecca for white 
explorers. 

When the trouble was settled, one by one the explorers 
began to turn their course anew to Kentucky. In 1765 
Colonel George Croghan ^^ passed down the Ohio and 
traveled some little way into Kentucky. ^^ Like Gist fifteen 
years before, he visited and wondered at the remains around 
Big Bone Lick. A year later Captain HaiTy Gordon de- 
scended the Ohio from Fort Pitt and left in his journal 
some observations in regard to the Falls. Finally, in 1767, 



10 This war is most vividly and accurately described by Park- 
man, in his Conspiracy of Pontiac. 

11 Thwaites, Early Western Travels, Vol. I. 

12 As an example of the vague geographical ideas current, it is 
interesting to note that Croghan, in landing at a certain stream, 
was uncertain whether he had reached the Kentucky or the Holstein. 



50 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Jolui Finlej ventured again into central Kentucky and 
no doubt visited again tlie Indian Eskipi)akithiki whither 
he had been carried in 1752. This visit of Finley was 
to l>ear much fruit, for he, hke Gist, was a Yadkin man, 
and on liis return home lie related his adventures with 
doubtless such embellishments as presented themselves to 
his Celtic fancy. 

In May, 1769, the long-restrained movement of the 
Yadkin people to the Kentucky country began. John 
Stewart, Daniel Boone, Joseph Holden, James Mooney 
and William Cool, all farmers of the Yadkin communit}, 
banded themselves together to go in search of that famous 
but elusive country that the Iroquois called Kentucky.''^ 
As the leader and guide of the company there went along 
the rollicking, roisterly, red-headed Irishman, John Fin- 
\ey. Finley, who was at different seasons peddler, trader, 
farmer, hunter and explorer, had visited Kentucky at least 
twice before, and on each occasion had brought back with 
him manifold tales of what he had experienced there. He 
had made the acquaintance of Boone on the Braddock 
expedition and had greatly aroused the spirits of that 
ardent hunter b}' his reports of Kentucky and the game. 
The desire then kindled in Boone for seeing Kentucky 
had grown greater with the passing of yeai*s. He had 
already made one attempt to reach the land. In 1767 he 
had penetrated far into the interior of the Cumberlands, 
but failed to find the level land which Finley had de- 
scribed. While he was wandering through the mountains, 
Finley was actually encamped in central Kentucky ; and 
when the latter reached the Yadkin and the two compared 
notes they were not long in resolving that another expedi- 

13 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. II, p. 178. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 51 

tion should get under way for the land that FInley had vis- 
ited and both desired. The fact that it was spring and the 
season was at hand when hard work would be demanded 
by the farms made the plan for immediate departure a 
most welcome one to the men among whose virtues that 
of farm work was certainly not included. So on May 1, 
1769, almost twenty years after Dr. Thomas Walker had 
entered Kentucky, the men took up their march for Cum- 
berland Gap, with Finley in the lead, pledging himself to 
lead them to central Kentucky by the most direct route. 
They passed through the gap and pressed determinedly 
on through the mountains. On the seventh of June Finley 
made good his promises by bringing them to the top of a 
mountain overlooking Red River^^ and pointing out the 
beautiful plain stretching out indefinitely to the west. Ac- 
cording to Boone's own account the little party was enrap- 
tured with the prospect ; they pitched their camp on Red 
River and abandoned themselves to joys of unlimited hunt- 
ing. Seemingly there was no end to the game. Boone 
had hunted over the Alleghany region from Pennsylvania 
to Florida, but had never found anything to compare to 
this. The men, and especially Finley, knew the reputation 
of the land for bloodshed and for carnage. But not even 
a sign of Indians was now to be seen in the land. So 
the men continued their hunting in all confidence while the 
days passed by as a dream. Summer came and went, and 
autumn passed, but still the hunters had no thoughts of 
I'ctuming. They gradually moved their camp westward 
until they reached the Kentucky, for they all wished to 
view the beautiful land. So with their camp as a common 



1* Z. F. Smith in his History of Kentucky, locates this camp at 
the junction of Clark, Powell and Estill counties. Without doubt 
Finley had piloted the party to Eskippakithiki. 



52 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

meeting place the party hunted and explored the land 
from the Kentucky to Dick's River. Nor was pleasure 
their only incentive to hunting; the furs and the skins of 
the slain animals would sell for a high price on the Yadkin 
and the members of the party hoped by the spoils of the 
chase to more than repay themselves for their neglected 
farms. 

So secure did they feel against Indian attack that they 
began to separate into two's and three's for greater con- 
venience in hunting. On December 22d two of the party, 
Boone and Stewart, were suddenly set upon by a band of 
Shawnese near the old town Eskippakithiki. The}'^ soon 
found that the Indians were more eager for plunder than 
for bloodshed. Boone and Stewart Avere compelled to lead 
their captors to the hunting camp. Here the Indians 
found great quantities of skins which had been collected 
during the long hunt and these they proceeded to appro- 
priate with a satisfaction highly civilized. The business 
completed, they released Boone and Stewart, leaving them 
enough food for tlieir journey home and the exceedingl}^ 
practical advice, "never to come back or the wasps and 
yellow jackets would sting them." They also relieved 
the hunters of all the horses thej' could find. But Boone 
and Stewart had no thought of walking home and, with 
empty hands, facing their insistent families. They has- 
tened to pursue the Indians and managed to recover five 
horses. The Indians in their turn pursued Boone and 
Stewart and speedily recaptui'ed them. The two were kept 
in close confinement for seven da^'s by the exasperated 
Indians, but they finally succeeded in escaping and made 
the best of their way back to the camp. They found the 
camp deserted, and setting out with all speed for home 
they soon overtook their companions who had become 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 53 

alarmed and decided to leave the country. Boone was 
more than pleased to find with them his brother Squire, 
who, with a companion, Alexander Neely, had come out 
into the "wilderness" and had stumbled on the party in 
the absence of Boone and Stewart. 

Stewart, Neely and the two Boones ^^ resolved to remain 
in Kentucky and resume the hunting, but the others made 
all haste home. After their late experience with the 
Shawnese it would seem that the hunters ought to have 
learned caution, but it was not long before the desire for 
game overcame all prudence, and they began hunting in 
pairs. In a few days Boone and Stewart again fell 
in with the Indians and only Boone escaped. A short 
time afterwards Neely disappeared,^® and the two broth- 
ers were left alone in the land. Not at all dismayed by 
the loss of Stewart and Neely they kept steadily at their 
hunting. The roving Shawnese were either ignorant or 
indifferent to the presence of the two hunters, for after 
the loss of their companions they were not again molested 
by the Indians. But a lack of ammunition threatened 
to bring to an abrupt close an expedition that human 
opposition had not been able to check. In this emergency 
it was decided that the younger brother should revisit the 
Yadkin and secure a supply of ammunition ; he was, more- 
over, to bring back if possible some horses on which they 
might convey to their homes the spoils they had secured. 
So at the beginning of May, 1770, one year after he had 
left his "peaceful habitation" on the Yadkin, Daniel Boone 
was left alone in the Kentucky country. Three months 
were consumed by Squire Boone on his overland journey. 



15 Finley went to Pennsylvania, and here disappears from history. 
i*! The skeleton of Neely was found long afterwards in a hollow 
tree. 



64 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Yet, though alone in the wilderness, Daniel was anything 
but unhappy. After the loneliness of the first few days 
had passed he found more pleasure even than before in 
his hunting and exploring. He roamed far enough north- 
ward to get a view of the Ohio River and penetrated to 
the Salt and Green rivers in the southwest. ]Many times 
he was alarmed by the indications of Indians, but never 
failed to avoid them. ^Moving with incessant caution, 
clianging his camp every night, and sleeping in the dens- 
est canebrakes, he for three months performed the unique 
feat of roaming undetected in a country infested by hostile 
people. Squire Boone returned in July and the two met 
at their old camp on tlie twenty-seventh of the month. 
Warned by increasing signs of the Indians, they aban- 
doned central Kentucky and traveled to the Cumberland 
River. Here they found game in such abundance that their 
ammunition was again shortly exhausted and Squire Boone, 
in the autumn of 1770, again made the trip to the Yadkin 
for another supply. Daniel remain behind, evidently in 
no hurry to return to his neglected farm and family. 

But the two Boones after all had not been alone in 
Kentucky. In the spring of 1770 a company of forty 
men, gathered from the Holstein, the Clinch and the New 
River regions, set out across the mountains and through 
Cumberland Gaj) for the Kentucky hunting grounds. In 
Wa^'ne County, six miles from the present Monticello, the 
party pitched camp and scattered in different directions 
in pursuit of the abundant game. Every five weeks, so 
they agreed, they were to meet and deposit their spoils 
at the common camp. But the adventurous spirits of the 
men soon nullified the arrangement. Ten of the men con- 
structed rude boats and loading them w'ith skins traveled 
down the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the ^lississippi to 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 55 

the Spanisli Natchez, whence after selling their spoils 
they returned home; others for various reasons rccrossed 
the mountains and a few perished. A band of nine led by 
James Knox, had previous to this, separated from the 
others and puslied on toward central Kentucky. Not far 
from Laurel River they encountered a band of Cherokees ; 
the leader of the Indians was recognized through a slight 
deformity by one of the white men and was saluted as 
"Captain Dick." The flattered chieftain directed the 
party to his own river, Dick's River, where they might find 
abundant game, kill and go home. The white men obeyed 
the first two injunctions as implicitly as they neglected 
the last. They spent some time on Dick's River and 
gradually moved westward to the Green River. Here they 
erected a "skin house" on Caney Creek and speedily set 
about filling it. They were apparently alone in the coun- 
try. Their surprise, then, can be conjectured when one 
day while encamped they heard not far away in the forest 
a voice raised in what was probably meant to be song. 
Cautiously approaching they saw a white man stretched 
full length on tlie ground singing with the full strength 
of a pair of lungs which had evidently been fashioned for 
other purposes. It was Daniel Boone, ^^ who with rare 
recklessness was giving himself up to the pleasure of his 
own music in entire forgetfulness of Indians and all 
things hostile. Squire Boone, who had returned from his 
second trip to the Yadkin, soon joined the party. The 
meeting occurred in February, 1771, and they all hunted 
together until March, when the two brothers finally set 
out for home after an absence of two years. They reached 
Cumberland Gap with their pack horses laden with pelfries. 



1" Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. Ill, p. 64. 



66 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Hero tlie Cherokocs met them and with grim liuinor re- 
lieved them of their burden. So the two brothers after 
two years of hardship and danger, having collected a small 
fortune twice and lost it, returned home empty handed 
to their families. 

Knox and his companions joined by twelve others, some 
of whom were their late comrades on the Cumberland, con- 
tinued their hunting along the Green River until the cap- 
ture of two of the party caused the others to hastily 
abandon the locality. Returning after two months they 
found their dogs gone wild and their "skin house" de- 
spoiled. One of the party, named Bledsoe, with a unique 
capacity for forceful and expressive English, carved on a 
convenient tree the laconic inscription, "2300 deer skins 
lost. Ruination, by God." The hunters persevered in 
establishing another depot only to have it plundered by 
the Cherokees, who seemed to regard the despoiling of 
other people's property as a part of their manifest des- 
tiny. This latter disaster lent sudden popularity to the 
idea of a return home, and late in 1772 the hunters re- 
turned to their own people, to be greeeted as the "Long 
Hunters," and to contribute by their stories to the increas- 
ing desire for Kentucky. 

Twenty-two ^^ears had passed since Dr. Walker had 
traveled through the mountains of Kentucky. In this 
time many people had passed the mountains and had 
roamed with delight through the heart of Kentucky ; yet 
at the close of the period there was not a single habitation 
nor a solitary white man in the land. But the period had 
been a time of exploration rather than of settlement; the 
men who had been in the land had come thither for game. 
With this idea they had taken every risk and had endured 
every hardship. But in their wandering throughout the 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 57 

land they insensibly fell under the spell of the beauty that 
had thrice lured John Finley from his home. When they 
compared the abundant game, the fertile soil, the level 
land, and the beautiful rivers with the region of their 
home, they could but form the desire to enter into and 
possess the land. And so it came to pass that the Boones 
and the Long Hunters, notwithstanding they had suffered 
much in their hunting and had been ultimately robbed of 
the profit of it, on returning home began straightway 
to make plans for settling the land. Nor they alone: the 
stories of the country and their adventures therein had 
aroused the entire Yadkin people. All other thoughts and 
plans were put aside; their farms and even their hunting 
were allowed to suffer while the community made ready for 
the new promised land. At the opening of 1773 the 
Yadkin people resembled for all the world a mighty river 
held momentarily in check by the dam of the Cumberlands. 



fi8 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 



THE SURVEYORS. 

ly'ENTUCKY, however, was not ready for settlement. 
■*^^ After the Boones and the Long Hunters had left 
the land there came in as a prelude to settlement, men of 
a more prosaic and practical profession than the pictur- 
esque hunters and adventurers who preceded them. These 
were the surveyors. Sent by the State of Virginia, they 
traveled up and down Kentucky, surveying the lands for 
record and laying out imaginary towns and cities in almost 
every valley. They were practical men and were con- 
cerned primarily with the land and its fertility. The beau- 
tiful forests, the wide plains, and the abounding game 
meant little or nothing to them. They formed, as it were, 
the skirmish line of the army of actual settlers that from 
1775 came into Kentucky. 

Mention has already been made of tlie benevolent decree 
issued by the King of England in 1763. It set apart 
for the Indians and the royal fur trade all the western 
region gained by the treaty of Paris. But the colonials 
who had fought the French and Indians and had been prom- 
ised bounty lands therefor, desired to have them located 
nowhere so much as in this western wilderness. Moreover, 
the sympathies of all classes in America were with the old 
soldiers. Long practice had rendered them adepts at dis- 
regarding royal regulations. They speedily and unani- 
mously decided that the King's decree was properl}' to be 
interpreted merely as a document to soothe the ruffled feel- 
ings of the Indians, but was by no means to be taken 
seriously as a guide for Anglo-Saxon conduct. The 
patroons of New York, the burgesses of Virginia, and the 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 59 

peasants of the Yadkin turned to the west with a prompt- 
ness liighly suggestive of colonial capacity for ignoring 
the kingly will. Washington sent confidential agents at 
once to survey for him the best lands they could find. 
Governor Dunmore dispatched official surveyors to cement 
Virginia's shadowy claim to the land, and the King's own 
commissioner at Fort Stanwix in 1768, in express dis- 
obedience of the King, induced the Iroquois first to claim 
and then to cede to the King the entire region between 
the Ohio and the Tennessee. In this arrangement the 
King sullenly acquiesced. 

In May, 1773, a party of surveyors, headed by Captain 
Bullitt and including James Harrod, were sent out by 
Governor Dunmore to survey in Kentucky the bounty 
lands for Virginia soldiers. Bullitt began his journey 
from Fort Pitt and descended the Ohio in canoes. At the 
mouth of the Kanawha they met a company whose leading 
spirits were the three McAfee brothers, James, George and 
Robert. These had come from Botecourt County, Vir- 
ginia, across the mountains to the Kanawha and there 
meeting Hancock Taylor and others by agreement, they 
had all come on down the river to the Ohio. Here at the 
mouth of the Kanawha, Bullitt separated from the others 
and journeyed into the interior of the Oliio country to 
visit the Miamis who, it was feared, might have a natural 
reluctance to see the Iroquois cede away the Kentucky 
lands claimed by themselves. He reached Old Chillicothe 
unnoticed and demanded a conference with the surprised 
red men. In this conference, after many metaphors^ and 
no little juggling with the facts, he induced the Miamis 
to consent in consideration of prospective presents, to the 



1 His speech is given in full in Marshall, History of Kentucky, 
Vol. I, p. 34. 



60 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

occupation of Kentucky by tlie white men. Much pleased 
with himself, he returned to the Ohio and rejoined his 
companions at Limestone Creek." His journey had con- 
sumed thirteen days. 

The united company spent several days in the vicinity 
of Limestone Creek. ^ They surveyed several tracts of land 
and laid off a section in town lots. Moving gradually 
down the Ohio, they discovered and named Bracken and 
Wilper's creeks after two of the party. At the mouth 
of the latter creek, Robert ]\IcAfee parted from his com- 
panions for an exploring expedition. He journeyed south- 
ward until he came to the Licking and down it to the 
forks. ^ Here, after making some surveys, he abandoned 
the river and again journcd overland to the Ohio. Finding 
his company gone past he hastily built a canoe and 
overtook them at the mouth of the Licking. Here Doug- 
lass, a surveyor, was left behind to make surveys while 
the others drifted on down the Ohio. At the mouth of 
the Big Miami, Hite with six men joined them and the 
entire party began to give their attention to finding 
Big Bone Lick of which they had heard much both from 
Indian and white man. In the night the}' passed Big Bone 
Creek without knowing it and only discovered their mis- 
take when the}' were ten miles below. ^Marching back they 
found the Lick and spent the Fourth of July thei'c. They 
used the ribs of the mastodons for tent poles and the 
heads for chairs. They observed with wonder and awe 
the mighty skeletons that lay strewn around tlie spring, 
and the swarming thousands of animals that came there 
to drink. Here, on July 7th, the McAfee party left Bul- 



2 This was the site of the future Maysville, which in colonial 
days bore the name Limestone. 

3 The McAfee "Journals" in the Woods-McAfee Memorial. 

4 The site of the modern Falmouth. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 61 

litt and his company, and moA'ing down the Ohio soon 
reached the mouth of the Kentucky. They rowed up 
the river twenty miles until they came to a salt lick where 
they went ashore to get a closer view of the game throng- 
ing around. Here they came upon one of their late com- 
panions who, profiting by the infonnation received from a 
Delaware Indian at Big Bone Lick, had followed an Indian 
trail to this place and quietly preempted the best location, 
much to the indignation of the McAfees. Nevertheless 
they called the lick Drennon's, for the man. 

After a week's delay at Drennon's Lick the company 
moved on up the Kentucky, surveying as thej'^ went. Fol- 
lowing a buffalo trail they crossed the river where Lees- 
town was later built and turning to the west soon found 
themselves on Salt River, wliich the}^ promptly christened 
Crooked Creek. July 31st, after having surveyed some 
fifteen thousand acres of land, the party began their 
journey home.^ They crossed Dick's and the Kentucky 
rivers, and crossing the mountains after great hardships 
passed through Cumberland Gap and thence home. 

Meanwhile Bullitt and his men had moved down the Ohio 
the day after McAfee, and had encamped at the Falls. 
For six weeks between this place and Salt River the men, 
having been joined by the three surveyors of the McAfee 
part}^, were busily engaged in surveying and locating new 
land. In August Bullitt himself surveyed the tract where 
Louisville now stands and marked it off in town lots. The 
men were charmed with the appearance and fertility of 
the region ; they resolved to return home and prepare for 
a permanent settlement in the land. Fortune, however, 
prevented the carrying out of their resolution. 



6 Taylor, Bracken and Drennon joined Bullitt at the Falls. 



62 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

The surve^'ors und the adventurers that had made up 
the companies of BuHitt and McAfee had been fortunate 
in entering Kentucky and successful in traversing it;" 
a far different fate was in store for tlie men from the 
south. The reports of the Boonos and tlie Long Hunters 
liad not failed of results. The Yadkin men were preparing 
to move on to Kentucky. With the elder Boone as their 
leader, they collected in September, 1773, six families of 
neighbors and began the journey to Kentucky. It was not 
a party of hunters or surveyors ; it was a migration of 
settlers. Women and children were along; the pack horses 
were laden heavily with the baggage to be used in their 
new homes. Their cattle were driven before them, even 
as when the Massachusetts' congregation ovci-flowed into 
the valley of the Connecticut. In Powell's Valley Boone 
was joined b}'^ forty men. The company, now swelled to 
formidable power, moved on and encamped at Cumberland 
Gap on the brink of Kentucky. But it so happened that 
in the rear of the main body were a few " with whom Boone 
wished to communicate. He dispatched his son James 
with two men to meet them and secure flour. On his return 
with several companions, young Boone missed the trail 
and was compelled to encamp for the night some three 
miles from his father. At daybreak the camp was sur- 
prised by the Shawnese and all slain except one laborer 
and a negro slave. Boone and his men on hearing the 
firing hastened up, but was too late for all but the melan- 
choly task of burying the dead. As a conswjucnce of this 
inauspicious beginning, the majority, of which Boone was 
not one, were clamorous to return to safer fields. The 



6 It was in 1773 that Kenton came down the Ohio seeking the 
cane lands. Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. Ill, p. 108. 

' These were the Bryans into which family Boone had married. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 68 

long growing desire for Kentucky had received a rude 
check. The entire band retreated forty miles into the 
Clinch Valley and passed the winter there. So failed the 
first concerted effort of the Yadkin people to settle Ken- 
tucky. An Indian war was soon to demand their energies. 

With the coming of spring the rush of surveyors to 
Kentucky began anew. The people, or at least the offi- 
cials, of Virginia did not consider that in losing their 
royal charter they had also lost the rights therein granted. 
To their minds the Old Dominion continued to extend to 
the indefinite west, widening its domain as its length was 
increased. Fincastle County, as the westernmost organ- 
ized section of Virginia, claimed and asserted jurisdiction 
over the transmontane west. Of this county Colonel Wil- 
liam Preston was official surveyor and under him as deputies 
were John Floyd, James Douglass and Hancock Taylor.^ 
In May, 1774, Preston sent all three to Kentucky to con- 
tinue the locating of the bounty lands. Floyd made his 
first surveys in eastern Kentucky and extended his labors 
over the central and the northern parts as far west as the 
Falls. Douglass began on Licking River and later moved 
into the same region as Floyd. Taylor confined his efforts 
to the Kentucky River region, and in the midst of his 
work was wounded by the prowling Shawnese and found 
a speedy grave in Madison County. 

Of much more importance than any of these was the 
well-nigh successful attempt of James Harrod ^ to found 
a settlement in central Kentucky. In ]May, Harrod at the 
head of thirty-one men came from his home in Virginia 
down the JMonong-ahela River to the Ohio and down that 



8 Douglass and Taylor had both been members of the Bullitt- 
Mc'Afee party. 

9 Harrod had been a valued companion of Bullitt in 1773. 



64 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

stream to tlio mouth of tlie Kentucky'. This they tlicn 
ascended to Oregon Creek ; the^- journeyed acrass to Salt 
River, wlicnce they proceeded to Avhere Harrotlsburg now 
stands.^" Within two weeks Isaac Hite joined them with 
eleven men. Rendezvousing near the Big Spring, east of 
Harrodsburg. the men proceeded with great alacrity to 
locate and select by lot places suitable for building cabins. 
The vicinities of Danville, Boiling Springs, Big Spring, 
and Harrodsburg were surveyed and appropriated. Har- 
rodsburg, then called Harrodstown, was named and laid 
off as a town, each man receiving two lots, one of one-half 
acres and the other of ten acres. Some land was cleared 
and a corn crop raised by an enterprising settler. Yet 
the company did not escape unscathed the ubiquitous 
Indians ; a few men while separated from the others were 
ambuscaded and one killed. Two of the others set out 
straightway for home and a fourth man '^ alone reached 
camp and told the news. 

Notice has already been taken of the French and Indian 
War and of the conspiracy of Pontiac in their relation to 
the exploration of Kentucky. The crushing of Pontiac 
had left the northern Indians nominally subdued. But 
their surrender was a sullen one and the white frontiers- 
men found the condition of peace much more terrible than 
war, for the red men saw w ith lowering brow the steady, 
lawless, irresistible march of the English to the west. Nor 
was this all ; the passions engendered by a half century of 
conflict raged wildly in both red man and white. Forajs 
and reprisals were frequent on either side. Complaint 
and upbraidings speedily followed. White men living on 
the frontier forgot their heritage and gave themselves up 



10 Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. II, p. 617. 
n John Harmon. 



HISTUllY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 65 

to the wildest passions. A hunter on the Kanawha having 
a favorite dog stolen straightway suspected an Indian and 
murdered both him and his squaw; many an event fully 
as trifling served to bring the exasperated savage to the 
warpath.'^ Wherever white men met red in this piping 
time of peace there followed quarrels and blows, the slay- 
ing of women and children, the burning of cabins, and 
the sacking of Indian villages. It was evident, even to 
the most peaceful, that the Indian war must be fought 
anew. 

Politics insinuated itself into the question and compli- 
cated it. The Indians faced the frontiers of both Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia. But their relations with the two 
were far from similar. With the Pennsylvanians they were 
sincerely and justly at peace,^^ for the Quakers were 
scrupulous in their dealings with them. But Virginia from 
the beginning recognized or respected no rights inherent 
under a red skin. Tlie Virginia men, moreover, were filled 
with a lust for new land. They were constantly encroach- 
ing, alwaj^s moving forward. They cared little for ab- 
tract justice and nothing at all for concrete Indian rights. 
So the Indians regarded the Pennsylvanians tranquill}', 
but the Virginians with bitter hatred. From Fort Pitt as 
her most western post Pennsylvania Avas accustomed to 
carry on her dealings with the well-disposed Indians. But 
early in the spring of 1774 Virginia, whose object it seemed 
was avowedly to bring on another war with the Indians, 
forcibly seized Fort Pitt and asserted a claim to the sur- 
rounding country. ^^ Governor Dunmore appointed Con- 



12 Magill, History of Kentucky. 

13 St. Clair to Penn, May 29, 1774. American Archives, Vol. I, 
p. 286. 

1* Dunmore to Penn, March 3, 1774. American Archives, Vol. I, 
p. 252. 



66 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

nolly, a wild, intemperate Irishman, as commandant there. 
The Indians, ah'cady well experienced in tlic ways of the 
Virginians, were quick to take alarm. They could expect 
no justice if Virginia was to be their neighbor. Their 
apprehensions were justified. Connolly, and probably Dun- 
more, were speculating heavily in Kentucky land and Con- 
nolly in person owned great tracts around the Falls. He 
left no stone unturned to provoke the Shawncse to war. 
In April he sent a circular letter ^^ to all settlers along the 
Ohio that the Shawncse were not trustworthy and that 
they could look out for themselves. The frontiersmen took 
this as a declaration of war. A certain Captain Cresap 
with a band of frontiersmen at once began hostilities by 
attacking and defeating several canoes of Indians on the 
Ohio. A more savage deed was that of Greathouse in 
ambuscading and murdering a band of friendly Indians 
some forty miles above Wheeling. Among the slain were 
members of the familv of Logan, the great Mingo chief, 
who promptly took the war trail and secured thirteen 
scalps before his anger was appeased- He carried the 
entire IMingo tribe into the war with him and the entire 
northern region gradually united for the inevitable war. 
Cornstalk, the Shawnese chief, was their leader. 

Meanwhile Connolly by repeated injuries did his best 
to keep the Indians aroused and the Virginia frontiersmen 
were constantly writing to Governor Dunmore that war 
was necessary, inevitable, and already begun. The wily 
Governor made quick use of the pretext. Loudly censur- 
ing the conduct of the Indians, he ordered two large forces 
to be levied for service against the enemy ; one, connnanded 



i^> Connolly's Proclamation of April 7, 1774. American Archives, 
Vol. I, p. 278. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 67 

by himself, to proceed by wa}^ of Fort Pitt and the Ohio, 
and the otlier under General Lewis to march overland 
and meet him north of the Ohio. 

But Kentucky at this time contained many surveyors 
sent there by the Governor's own command, and Harrod 
was already laying the foundations for a permanent settle- 
ment at a town which bears his name. These men would 
fall the first victims in an Indian war, and Dunmore had 
no thought of sacrificing them. So through Preston and 
liis subordinate, Russell, Boone was commissioned ^'"' to 
once more cross Kentucky and warn the white men of the 
coming conflict. Boone was to have one companion and 
he chose Michael Stoner. The two began their journey 
from the Clinch Valley and lost no time in penetrating 
into Kentucky.^' They reached Harrodstown in the midst 
of the building activity. Boone, notwithstanding his mis- 
sion, seemed to take great interest in the new settlement 
and secured half of a double cabin for himself. After a 
little delay the two messengers passed on to the Falls and 
explained their errand to the men at work. Then, fol- 
lowed by the alarmed surveyors, they once more crossed 
the valley and reached home by way of Cumberland Gap 
sixty-eight days after they had left it. They had trav- 
eled over eight hundred miles on their journey. 

The surveyors and settlers after abandoning Kentucky, 
joined General Lewis at Point Pleasant. Lewis expected 
to meet Dunmore at this place,^^ but the wily Cornstalk 
had with instinctive genius planned to destroy each force 
in detail. Leading his Shawnese, Delaware, Wyandot 



10 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. Ill, p. 126. 
17 On this trip Boone passed over the site of the future Boones- 
borough. 

i8Thwaites and Kellogg, Lord Ditnmore's War, p. 287. 



68 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

and Mingo warriors stealtlillv tlirouoh the forest, he crossed 
the Ohio and fell like a thunderbolt on the unsuspecting 
English. But English perseverance was too much for 
Indian valor, and after an all day's battle the beaten 
chieftain was compelled to draw back in the shadows of 
the northern forests. Dunmore, marching from Fort Pitt, 
soon reached the Indian country and dictated tenns of 
peace to the dispirited warriors. ^'-^ By their treaty the 
red men pledged themselves not to cross to the south of 
the Ohio except for trade, and to do no harm to white 
men coming down the river. Enough has been written to 
show that the war was provoked more by white men than 
by red, but once begun the Indian had fought it valiantly 
and to utter exhaustion. In consideration of their cause 
for war and their valor in conducting it, a Kentuckian 
may be pardoned for failing to censure their violation 
of the treaty that closed it. The war is known to history 
as Lord Dunmore's War, a name given to it in commemora- 
tion of its chief provoker. 

But the Kentucky country had been drained of its 
men by the conflict. Not a soul was within its borders 
or among its forests. Here and there were melancholy 
reminders of vanished hopes, trees blazed by explorers, 
stakes driven by surveyors ; at HarrodstoAvn a few desolate 
cabins, and in Madison County a new-made grave. The 
land liad once more returned to solitude and quiet. 

In the meantime, while the explorers and surveyors had 
been traversing Kentucky, and even while the campaign 
was being carried on against the Ohio Indians, the tide 
of eastern immigration was moving steadily and I'esist- 



10 Ix)gan remained defiant and on this occasion burst out in tlie 
passionate speech that has immortalized his name. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 69 

lessly toAvard the Kentucky country. From the Shenan- 
doah Valley in Virginia, a well-defined movement was under 
way westward into the smaller mountain valleys wherever 
fertile or habitable country could be found. This advance 
in the course of its slow groping way finally reached and 
came to a halt in the valleys of the Tennessee River and 
its tributaries, in v/hat is now the eastern part of the State 
of Tennessee. This transmontane country was vaguely 
known to the Tidewater population and it was for many 
years a matter of conjecture whether it was in the limits 
of Virginia or of North Carolina. The people of western 
Virginia took the former view and were soon engaged in 
finding homes along the Wataga, the Clinch, the Powell 
and the Holstein. It was in 1769 that William Bean led 
the first Virginians to the Wataga River. Joined shortly 
by many others, his settlement became known as the Wa- 
taga settlement. In 1771 the Indian trader Carter settled 
on the Holstein River, and being joined by his neighbors 
from Abingdon, Virginia, his settlement became known as 
the Carter Valley settlement. Carter, a few years later, 
played a part in helping Henderson secure his path grant 
to Kentucky. The approach of the Revolution drove 
many Carolinians across the mountains to settle along the 
Clinch, the Powell and the Nolichucky. Separated by 
long distances from the governments of Virginia and North 
Carolina the Wataga and Carter Valley settlements united 
in 1772 in the Wataga Association for local government. 
The other settlements shortly came into the association, 
which modeled its laws after those of Virginia and aspired 
to independence. John Carter was a leading spirit in 
the movement. 

In 1775 the Wataga Association was "farthest west," 
and when the emigration began anew westward to Ken- 



70 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

tucky, Powell's Valley served as the point of departure. 
It was the gathering point for men from all sections who 
were seeking the western lands, and Henderson, when he 
came to negotiate with the Cherokees for the ill-fated 
Transylvania found the Wataga River the most conven- 
ient point for his conference with the red men. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 71 



TRANSYLVANIA. 

THE year 1775 was a troubled one for the English- 
speaking people in America. The mother country 
and her child had been separated now for over half a 
century. For a long time their different paths had been 
apart only in place, not in spirit ; now even the conscious- 
ness of kind was departing. The first colonists had deemed 
themselves Englishmen so j ourning in a strange land. How- 
ever distant they wandered, or long, they never lost nor 
sought to lose the memory of their English birthright. 
But now a new generation had grown up that knew not 
England. They had no memories of its fields, acquaint- 
ance with its customs, or affection for its name. Their 
home was America and their hearts were there. In the 
process of becoming colonial they had ceased to be English. 
So it came to pass, without the intention of either, that 
out of this difference in sympathy that followed the sepa- 
ration of place, many misunderstandings arose and flour- 
ished. Actions of the mother country that would have 
been received as a matter of course fifty years before, 
became, in 1775, considered as symptoms of conscious 
tyranny. Colonial aspirations which would have found 
ready sympathy in the England of William of Orange, or 
even the second James, occasioned only distrust and sus- 
picion in 1775. Suspicion had taken the place of co-oper- 
ation ; antagonism, of friendship ; hostility, of peace. So, 
in 1775, without real cause, but as the result of petit meas- 
ures on each side, two great peoples were on the brink of 
war. Both were suffering from high indignation and 
wounded vanity. Stamp Acts, Boston Port Bills, Com- 



72 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

mittees of Correspondence and Continental Congresses 
swiftly followed. 

As war grew more and more inevitable, both English 
and Americans began to make overtures for the aid of the 
Indians. The Englisli influence, tlianks to Sir John John- 
son in New York, and the remembrance the Indians of the 
Ohio had of their Virginia neighbors, finally prevailed. 
The Indians became in fact allies of the English ; from 
Detroit in Canada a vigilant English ruler directed their 
movements and mitigated, wherever possible, their atroci- 
ties.^ It seemed a most inopportune time for the settle- 
ment of Kentucky or any western land. Nevertheless, it 
was tliis time above all others that the colonists chose for 
western expansion. In the troubled state of affairs at 
home there was a prospect that in the remote west they 
would be allowed to attain that which the colonial mind 
considered the greatest of blessings, self-government. 

The memory of Richard Henderson has for more than 
a century suffered from the ambition of some writers, the 
liatred of othei's, and the ignorance of all. Like many 
other notable figures in American history, he was bom in 
and early emigrated from Virginia. From his utterances in 
later life it is safe to suppose that his removal from Virginia 
was so early as to leave him without affection for it, or that 
his short life there was sufficient to inspire a violent dislike.^ 
The elder Henderson, with the boy Richard and the re- 
mainder of his family, settled in the Yadkin region of North 
Carolina. The industry even more than the ability of tlie 
father may be inferred from the fact that he became sheriff 



1 A perusal of the Haldeniand papers is sufficient to dissipate 
the idea that the English deliberately encouraged the Indians in 
their atrocities. 

- Henderson's "Journal" contains many innuendoes at things 
Virginian. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 73 

in that turbulent community where peace officers were re- 
quired to be constantly on duty. Richard, becoming older, 
acted as his assistant, and as a corollary took up the study 
of law. The legal libraries extant at that time in the Yad- 
kin were not burdensome, either in quality or extent. Never- 
theless, when the time came for him to be admitted to the 
bar, he successfully passed an examination as rigid as the 
Chief Justice ^ could make it. At the bar he speedily dis- 
tinguished himself and was ultimately chosen by Governor 
Tryon as Justice of the Superior Court. This position he 
held for a full term of six years, retiring from the bench in 
1774t.* Henderson was a man of extraordinary ability and 
of greater ambition. From a home of poverty and a youth 
of illiteracy he had risen by native ability to be a leader 
among his people. He had tasted power and enjoyed it. 
Moreover, in his character was that large magnetism that 
made him popular with all classes and made men look to him 
instinctively as a leader. Popular, ambitious and conscious 
of his ability, it was natural that after retiring from the 
bench he should be far from content with the life of a rural 
barrister. He turned his thoughts to Kentucky. 

The surveyors who had been forced by Dunmore's war to 
abandon Kentucky had not been silent concerning the land 
they had left. On the Point Pleasant campaign Kentucky 
had been a subject as exciting as the war itself. '^ Back in 
the "settlements" men began again to plan for land com- 
panies. Patrick Henry ^ sent a messenger to sound the 
Cherokees in regard to a sale of their Kentucky lands, but 



3 Berry. 

4 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. Ill, p. 165. 
6 Autobiography of Daniel Trabue. 

6 Deposition of Patrick Henry, Calendar of Virginia State Papers, 
Vol. I, p. 289. 



74 HISTORY OF TIONEER KENTUCKY 

the approach of the Revohition interrupted the negotiations 
by offering a more brilliant outlet for his peculiar talents. 
Boone had not gone on the campaign with Lewis, but had 
remained in reluctant connnand of tlie three forts in the 
Clinch Valley. He suggested to Hendoison that he pur- 
chase the Cherokee title to Kentucky and establish a colony 
there. The suggestion came to not unwilling ears. On the 
twenty-seventh of August, 1774, Henderson, Jolin Wil- 
liams, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, James Luttrell and 
Williams Johnston formed themselves into the Louisa Com- 
pany for the purpose of renting or purchasing the land 
from the Indians on the Mississippi." Whatever vices may 
be im})uted to Henderson, indecision was certainly not one 
of them ; in the autumn after the formation of the company, 
he and Nathaniel Hart personally visited the Cherokees and 
began the negotiations for the land. Henderson made the 
Indians promises, not of gold for their lands, but of man}' 
"white man's goods." The Cherokees listened to these prop- 
ositions with pleasure, and with commendable prudence pro- 
posed that the Cherokee representatives should go to inspect 
the stores. To this Henderson assented, and after a discus- 
sion of a proposed meeting next spring the two men, accom- 
panied by two Indian warriors and a woman, returned home. 
Meanwhile, while the envoj-s of the Louisa Company and 
their dusky companions were crossing into eastern Carolina 
for the coveted stores, the Louisa Company itself was being 
reorganized. Leonard Bullock, James Hogg and David 
Hart increased the number of stockholders from six to nine. 
Each stockholder was to receive one-eighth part, since Bul- 
lock and David Hart ventured only one-sixteenth each. The 



7 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. Ill, Chap. XI. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 75 

name of the company was changed from Louisa to Tran- 
sylvania. The latter name suggested at once the character of 
the Kentuck}' lands and the impediments on the way into it. 

In the spring of 1775, the wagons laden with goods ^ 
designed for the Cherokces by the Transylvania Compan}^ 
made their slow way across the Carolina mountains toward 
the appointed rendezvous on the Wataga River. The 
heavily laden wagons with their extraordinary cargo and 
their guard of two impassive warriors created much com- 
ment as they passed through the scattered settlements. 
The report got abroad and spread like wildfire that a new- 
attempt was to be made to cross the Cumberlands and 
settle Kentucky. It was welcome news to a people whose 
eyes had long been turned thither. The Kentucky fever 
broke out anew and with greater violence than ever before. 
It pervaded all classes, and for a time seemed likely to 
depopulate the colony. Henderson's name became asso- 
ciated with the project and kindled additional enthusiasm. 
And when finally the insistent rumors were corroborated 
by the lips of Boone, the eagerness of the people could 
not longer be restrained. Boone had been employed and 
commissioned by the Transylvania Company to aid in the 
negotiation with the Cherokees, and at its completion to 
mark a road and lead the first settlers to the banks of the 
Kentucky. He selected from the ready frontiersmen thirty 
picked men and rendezvoused them at I^ong Island in the 
Holstein River, near the place selected for the treaty with 
the Cherokees.^ 

Boone, Plenderson, Luttrell and Nathaniel Hart were 
to be the representatives of the Transylvania Company in 

8 The goods were bought at Fayetteville. 

9 Filson, Autobiography of Boone, p. 57. 



76 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

the dealings with the Indians.^" The four chiefs, Oconis- 
toto, Attacullacula, Savanooko and Dragging Canoe were 
deputed by the Cherokees to represent them in the delib- 
erations. The place of meeting was at Sycamore Shoals 
on tlie Wataga River. Here, then, in February, 1775, 
assembled tlie aforementioned chiefs of the Cherokees and 
about twelve hundred of the people.' ^ At least one-half of 
these were warriors. Another chieftain, known as "Judge's 
Friend," had been kept at home for some reason but sent 
his proxy. Both sides were fully alive to the importance 
of the business to be transacted. The Cherokees were on 
the point of parting with their most valued possession. 
Kentucky was to them a paradise and a shrine. They 
loved the land because of the game in its level valleys. It 
was the land above all others where they delighted to 
hunt. To their minds Kentucky was the ideal country. 
Moreover, the Cherokees more than any other Indians, held 
the Kentucky land in veneration. The bones of their an- 
cestors, so their tribal legend ran, lay thick beneath its 
surface. Under their savage exteriors they hid hearts by 
no means insensible to the pathos of their vanished fore- 
fathers. Truly, it was no trivial thing to give up the 
land that was called Kentucky. Such thoughts as these 
tempered their desire for gain and gave to their delibera- 
tions a dignity and a gravity not surpassed by the white 
men themselves. For Henderson and his associates also 
had much at stake. They were bargaining for an exten- 
sive country and money was not easy to find. And when 
the payment was made could they be sure of their pur- 
chase.'' Even if the Cherokees respected the treaty, would 
the northern Indians observe it? Supposing that Virginia 



10 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. Ill, p. 169. 

11 Depositions of Chas. Robertson, Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. I, 
p. 291. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 77 

should again extend unscrupulous hands, as at Fort Pitt, 
what might not the future hold? 

Premonitions of such things caused Henderson to take 
the utmost precautions that the treaty should be fair and 
just, and that the Indians should fully understand the 
nature of it all. All halfbreeds among the Indians were 
required to attend and assist in interpreting.^" Moreover, 
the best linguists among the Indian traders, including 
Ellis Harlan, Isaac Rogers, Thomas, Benjamin and Rich- 
ard Paris, and Thomas Price were present and rendered 
active aid. Several men of note in the "settlements" were 
there; among which number was Isaac Shelby, later to 
become first governor of Kentucky. He was making plans 
for moving to Kentucky and more than suspected that 
Henderson was after the same lands as himself. ^^ 

From the time the contracting parties met until their 
departure, twenty days were consumed, but not all these 
were spent in business. The actual treaty-making seems 
to have taken up about five days while the remaining time 
was passed in feasting and revelry. On the first day,^* 
Henderson and his companions called upon the Indians to 
show their title to the Kentucky lands. This the chiefs 
did, and Henderson satisfied himself by a most careful 
investigation that the Cherokees alone of all the people of 
that time were the rightful owners of the land. On the 
second day there came up the question of what lands Hen- 
derson wished to buy from the Indians, The Cherokees 
showed themselves unwilling to part with any lands except 
those l3'ing to the north and east of the Kentucky River. 

12 Deposition of Samuel Wilson, Cal. Va. Si. Papers, Vol. I, 
p. 282. 

13 Deposition of Isaac Shelby, Cal. Va. St. Papers. Vol. I, p. 296. 

14 Deposition of J as. Robertson, Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. I, 
p. 285. 



78 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

This region Henderson promptly refused to buy for the 
quite sufficient reason that Virginia liad already bought it 
and was at that moinont in possession. The Indians, un- 
able to comprehend the ethical principle which prevented 
them from selling the same property as often as they 
pleased, were much incensed at Henderson's attitude, and, 
led by Dragging Canoe, they withdrew and broke up the 
conference. However, the lure of the "white man's goods" 
was too much for the Indian character and the following 
day. found the Indians prepared to renew the conference. 
Henderson renewed his demands and the Indians finally 
agreed to them, though not without many complaints of 
the fewness of the goods to be given in exchange. It was 
at this juncture that Dragging Canoe in an impassioned 
address warned the white men that they had secured a 
"dark and bloody ground," a phrase that was to become 
widely famous. The region demanded by Henderson and 
yielded by the Indians lay between the Kentucky and the 
Cumberland rivers. On the fourth day nine deeds, one 
for each of the proprietors, were prepared and laid before 
the Indians for signing. The interpreters were present 
and read the documents to the chiefs, word for word, until 
they declared they thoroughly understood them. Then the 
chiefs signed. One of the interpreters, Vann,^^ as a result 
of a slight altercation with Henderson, at the last moment 
counseled the Indians to reject the treaty, but his advice 
fell on unheeding ears. 

The boundary line of the land purchased by Henderson 
took its beginning from the Ohio River at the mouth of 
the Kentucky and ran up that stream to the head springs 
of its northernmost branch ; thence the line ran overland 



IB Deposition of John Lowry, CaJ. Va. St. Papers, Vol. I, p. 288. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 79 

to the top of Powell's Mountain in North Carolina, now 
Tennessee ; thence it took its vague way along the ridge 
of the mountain until it reached a point where a northwest 
course struck the head springs of the southernmost branch 
of the Cumberland to the Ohio, and up that stream to the 
starting point. For this tract, goods amounting to ten 
thousand pounds sterling were given by Henderson to the 
Indians. In their eyes this seemed a huge amount, but 
they found when twelve hundred warriors shared in the 
division the 'per capita was surprisingly small. One war- 
rior afterwards declared that his portion was represented 
b}^ a single shirt. 

After the chiefs had affixed their signatures to this 
deed, Henderson called their attention to the fact that the 
land he had bought of them was far off and that he had 
no entrance to it except through their territories or Vir- 
ginia's. He proposed that they sell him for a further 
consideration a path ^^ to Kentucky. This was to include 
Powell's Valley, in what is now Tennessee, and was to 
extend thence in a narrow jJath south of the Virginia line 
and into Kentucky. The actual limits of this path is 
today a matter of controversy and seems not to have been 
clearly understood then, unless by the contracting parties. 
It is certain that it included the land through which Boone 
a few days later blazed his way into Kentucky. It may be 
stated that for this "path" grant no money or goods passed 
into the hands of the Cherokecs ; the tribe was considerably 
in debt to the Indian trader, Carter,^ ^ and Henderson as- 
sumed the debt as a payment for the land. The nascent 



i« Deposition of Nathaniel Henderson, Cal. Va. St. Papers, 
Vol. I, p. 805. 

17 Deposition of Jas. Robertson, Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. I, p. 285. 



80 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Wataga scttlcinent had a representative present at all the 
deliherations in the person of Charles Robertson. 

The expense of the twenty days of treaty making was 
b^^ no means small and was met by the Transylvania Com- 
pany. They furnished beeves, flour, corn and other pro- 
visions for the entire assembly. To the credit of the 
company no liquor was given the Indians until the nego- 
tiations were completed. Hardly was the treaty signed, 
however, before the chiefs got gloriously intoxicated. The 
action of Henderson throughout is not open to criticism. 
There will not be found in history a treat}' more fairly 
negotiated or more religiously observed. 

For one hundred and thirty-five years the point has 
been debated whether the transfer was a legal one or not. 
Virginia took up the question almost before the ink was 
dr}' on the treat}' and, of course, decided it in the negative. 
The royal Governor of North Carolina took similar action, 
and from that day to this the Transylvania Company and 
Henderson in particular has suffered condemnation at 
every hand. Were it not for the fact that historians, like 
animals of a more woolly appearance, are inclined to fol- 
low an accepted leader and that the action of the first 
judge, Virginia, was patently for self-aggrandizement, the 
verdict of the years might be accepted as final. Yet it 
might well seem strange to any truth-seeker that Hender- 
son, one of the most eminent of colonial jurists, should 
be taken like a boy in a legal tangle, and that Boone, 
whose name was a synonym for honesty all along the fron- 
tier, should lend himself so completely to unlawful schemes. 
It may not, then, be entirely amiss that at least one more 
effort should be made to ascertain and make known the 
facts. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 81 

In a consideration of the title to Kentucky five dif- 
ferent claimants must be noticed. These five are the Vir- 
ginians, the English, the Shawnese — who may represent 
all the Indians immediately north of the Ohio — the Iro- 
quois and the Cherokees. If there was any power to give 
a rightful title to Kentucky it was necessarily one of 
these. 

The claim of Virginia to the western territory was 
based upon the charter ^^ given them from the founda- 
tion of the colony. Therein it was specified that the do- 
main of Virginia should extend from sea to sea and wa^ 
interpreted by patriotic Virginians to mean that their col- 
ony grew wider as it grew further from the coast. Hence 
their seizure of Fort Pitt and the claiming of the Ohio 
as well as the Kentucky country. But the charter grant- 
ing this extensive domain had been abrogated in 1624. 
Virginia's borders thereafter were become matters to be 
settled according to the kingly will. Virginia had become 
a royal province; her charter had been taken away from 
her and not another given. And in fact her boundaries 
had been fixed from time to time, not only to north and 
south, but to the west as well. Then, inasmuch as Vir- 
ginia could not base her claim to Kentucky upon provisions 
of an annulled charter, unless the land were ceded her by 
one of the other four claimants, she could not possibly 
have any legal right to the country at all. A considera- 
tion of the other claimants will reveal whether or not any 
such cession ever was made. 

The Shawnese, and the loosely allied tribes of the Ohio 
country, claimed Kentucky because of ancient possession 
and present desire. The Shawnese at one time, prior to 



18 McDonald, Select Charters, p. 17. 



82 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

their removal to Ohio, had indubitably occupied Ken- 
tucky. They had lived along the Cumberland lliver and 
had given their own name to the stream. But neither 
Shawnese or others had occupied Kentucky, save by stealth, 
for nearly a century. They had been beaten by the Cher- 
okees and conquered by the Iroquois. They were a vassal 
nation and had long acknowledged their dependence. Their 
claim, then, such as it was, had been taken over by the 
Six Nations who had conquered them and their country 
as completely as one tribe ever conquered another. The 
Ohio Indians admitted the Iroquois right to Kentucky and 
the Cherokees themselves acquiesced. ^^ And, assuredly, 
neither Shawnee, nor Wyandot, nor Delaware, ever pre- 
sumed to cede to Virginia the land that they had long 
since lost. 

The Iroquois, then, had acquired as sound a title to 
Kentucky as an Indian ever had to property of any kind. 
By afterwards buying it from them the English acknowl- 
edged the claim, and Shawnese and Cherokees by acqui- 
escing in the sale admitted its legalit3^^'* Thus the Iro- 
quois title to Kentucky was unquestioned. But in a solemn 
treaty at Fort Stanwix, New York, on the fifth day of 
November, 1768, the Iroquois in the presence of the King's 
Commissioner, the Governor of New York, and representa- 
tives from Virginia and Pennsylvania, ceded to the English 
all the country east of the Ohio and Tennessee.-^ Three 
things are to be remembered in connection with this cele- 
brated treat}' of Fort Stanwix. The Shawnese and the 
Cherokees acquiesced in it ; the Iroquois gave up all their 



19 Deposition of George Craig, Cal. Va. State Papers, Vol. IV, 
p. 140. 

20 Haywood, History of Tennessee, p. 80. 

21 Documentary History of New York, Vol. I, p. 587. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 83 

rights to the land ; the title to Kentucky was ceded to the 
English and not to Virginm. Virginia had no more right 
to the country than before. England had acquired the 
right of eminent domain. 

It is now necessary to consider the relations of the Eng- 
lish and the Cherokees in order to understand why Hender- 
son, knowing fully the provisions of the Fort Stanwix 
treaty, yet chose to buy his land from the Cherokees rather 
than to apply to the English government for a grant. 
While the provisions of the treaty were being arranged by 
Johnson and tlie reluctant ministers of the King could 
clearly foresee the result, they had begun straightway 
to make plans for alienating the territory they had un- 
willingly gained. At Hard Labor, South Carolina, a 
treaty was made with the Cherokees fixing the western 
boundary of Virginia by a line extending from a point on 
the North Carolina boundary, about thirty-six miles east 
of Long Island, to the Kanawha and down that stream 
to the Ohio. This boundary was somewhat west of the 
prior accepted boundary of Virginia, and for their agree- 
ment to this the Cherokees were expressly confirmed by 
the treaty in the possession of the lands west of the line. 
But the restless Virginians could not long be restrained 
within this boundary. October 18, 1770, at Lochaber,-^ 
In South Carolina, another treaty was made with the Cher- 
okees by which the boundary was moved a little further 
west and the Cherokees again confirmed in the possession 
of the remainder. This time the line was to begin six miles 
east of Long Island and run to the Ohio. At this treaty 
the King's Indian con.missioner was present, Major Lacey 
was there from Virginia, and James Sampson represented 



22 Summers, History of Southwest Virginia, pp. 90 and 111. 



84 IlISTOllY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

South Carolina. So on two occasions and by .solemn trea- 
ties the English had confirmed the Cherokee title to the 
Kentucky countrj'. Kentucky, having passed from Cher- 
okee and Shawnese to Iroquois, and from Iroquois to Eng- 
lish, had by English cession been restored to Cherokee. 
But not all of it was destined to come back into their 
hands. A certain Colonel Donelson was appointed to run 
the new boundary line, but instead of following the provi- 
sions of the treaty he passed from Long Island to the 
headwaters of the Kentucky River and down it to the Ohio. 
An enormous territory was thus gained for Virginia. ^^ 

Henderson in his negotiations with the Cherokees at Wa- 
taga liad in his possession a copy of the Lochaber treaty. 
He knew, then, that the title of Kentucky rested with the 
Cherokees, and he knew, also, of Donelson's action in seiz- 
ing for Virginia all the lands cast and north of the Ken- 
tucky River, hence his refusal to buy such lands notwith- 
standing the eagerness of the Indian to sell. He was care- 
ful to buy onl}' to the west and south of the Kentucky, 
and therefore secured lands outside the jurisdiction of 
Virginia. 

The necessary conclusions from the facts as presented 
are, that since Shawnee had yielded to Iroquois, and Iro- 
quois to English, and English had confirmed to Cherokee, 
the Kcntuck3^ lands were Cherokee possessions with the 
English government holding the right of eminent domain. 
The treaties of Eochaber and Hard Labor had fixed tho 
western limits of Virginia, a boundary which Donelson 
unfairly extended to the Kentucky. Assuredly, then, the 
lands be3fond the Kentucky did not belong to Virginia, 



23 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone. Donelson justified his act by say- 
ing that an Indian chief suggested the change on the ground that 
the Indians preferred natural boundaries. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 85 

they had never even been claimed by her. The treaties of 
Hard Labor and Lochaber had effectually checked her 
western expansion and must not be overlooked in any con- 
sideration of her later claims. 

Henderson made no pretense of acquiring eminent do- 
main. He recognized the sovereignty of England. The 
right of individuals to buy land of the Indians was one that 
on many occasions had been upheld by the Crown. Hen- 
derson, then, did not err in this. The right of a people to 
organize for local self-government was as old as the Eng- 
lish race and colonial history afforded many examples of 
it, notably at Wataga. Henderson, therefore, did no un- 
lawful thing in establishing the Transylvania government. 
There can be little doubt that if the Revolution had not 
intervened, Transylvania would have been recognized by 
the Crown as a separate colony. The confusion of Revo- 
lutionary times gave Virginia her opportunity to exploit 
her claims. As to the King's proclamation forbidding set- 
tlement in Kentucky, it was never construed as binding. 
No officer of the Crown observed it. The colonists shrewdly 
guessed at the truth, that it was intended only as a balm 
to Indian feelings. Henderson violated no law in settling 
Kentucky. 

After the treaty was completed Henderson announced 
the terms on which he would sell land to settlers in the 
proposed Transylvania colony."^ To those whose daring 
and energy induced them to accompany Boone or himself 
as the initial settlers, he announced that he would grant 
six hundred and forty acres at twenty shillings per hun- 
dred acres. Three hundred and twenty acres additional 
could be secured by bringing in a taxable settler. Hen- 



24 CoUins, Vol. II, p. 512. 



86 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

derson was Ccareful to explain that this price would be 
given only to the first settlers and that thcK^ would be 
an increase after the first settlement was made.-^ With 
this clear understanding the journey was begun to Ken- 
tucky. 

Boone and his companions of thirty picked and mounted 
men had the task of preceding the others and marking 
out a trace to the new settlement. The party included 
Squire Boone, Richard Calloway and Felix Walker. Cap- 
tain William Twetty, with eight men under his command, 
was also among the number. The objective point was 
the mouth of Otter Creek on the south bank of the Ken- 
tucky River. This was a place frequently visited by Boone 
on his previous trips to Kentucky and one in which he 
took much delight. To the mind of the simple-hearted 
hunter it seemed an ideal location for a town and he had 
not been sparing in its praises to Henderson. The task 
of Boone was not to make a road but to mark a trace. 
Those that were to come after were either on foot or at 
most only accompanied by pack horses. The trace was 
to be principall}' for their guidance. 

Boone began his journey even before the Wataga treaty 
was completed. Crossing into Kentucky by Cumberland 
Gap, he entered the well-beaten war road of the Shawnese 
and Cherokecs and followed it northward for fifty miles. ^® 
Then leaving the war road, he traveled over a buffalo road 
to the "Hazel Patch," and thence across a trackless wilder- 
ness until he reached Rockcastle River. Up to this point 
the task had been an easy one ; the road-making had con- 
sisted in blazing with their hatchets tlic trees along the 



25 Deposition of John Floyd, Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. I, p. 809. 
2« Speed, Wilderness Road, p. 26. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 87 

road. But now a more serious labor confronted them ; 
the forests were full of fallen timber and dead brush. For 
twenty miles the company had literally to hew their way. 
No sooner had they successfully passed through this weari- 
some region than they encountered one of the wild cane 
fields that abounded in Kentucky.^" Their path through 
this was as difficult as through the brush. But after 
thirty miles they reached the end of the cane and "began 
to discover the pleasing and rapturous appearance of the 
plains." Upon this plain the pathfinders entered, and 
guided by Boone made their way rapidly to the Kentucky 
River. No indications of Indians had been observed on 
the way and they had almost completed their journey 
without an interruption. But on the twenty-fifth of 
March, when they had come within fifteen miles of their 
destination, the unexpected blow from the Indians came. 
The part}', while sleeping in fancied security, was fired 
upon at daybreak. A colored servant was killed by the 
volley and Walker and Twetty were badly wounded. ^^ 
An Indian sprang forward to scalp Twetty but a faithful 
bulldog bore him to the ground. His red companions 
tomahawked the dog and then being but a feeble band all 
quickly withdrew. Boone had calmly rallied his men after 
the first surprise and saved the property. The ardor of 
some of the party was much chilled by this incident and 
they immediately' set out for home. Both Twetty and 
Walker were in great suffering from their wounds, and as 
they were unable to be moved, Boone hastily constructed a 
rude fort for their protection while waiting. Here Twetty 

27 Narrative of Felix Walker. This is given in Collins, Vol. II, 
p. 497. 

2s Bradford, Notes on Kentucky, p. 22. 



88 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

died the next day and the fort was christened in his mem- 
ory Fort Twetty.^" 

Boone remained encamped at this point until the first 
of Aprih While inactive he wrote and dispatched to Hen- 
derson a letter ^^ relating the story of the Indian attack, 
but urging Henderson to come on to Kentucky as quickly 
as possible. He stated in his letter that he was going 
to start that very day for the mouth of Otter Creek and 
promised to send ten men to meet him if he so desired. 

INIeanwhile Henderson, liaving finished the treaty at 
Wataga, had started for "Louisa" on the twentieth of 
March. "^^ When Boone's letter reached him April 7th, he 
had almost arrived at Cumberland Gap. Hardly had he 
received the news, when the settlers fleeing from Kentucky 
began to come into camp. In one day he met forty fugi- 
tives and could prevail on but one of them to go back with 
him. Moreover, some members of his own party, being 
Virginians, and probably having no great affection for 
their Carolinian leader, left and went home.'^^ On the tenth 
he determined to send a messenger at once to Boone and 
infonn him that he was on his way. Volunteers were not 
abundant for the perilous task ; b}" the promise of ten 
thousand acres of land ^'^ and by many solicitations, he 
finally prevailed upon Captain William Cocke to make the 
trip. He, himself, with the remainder of his company, 
pushed on over the "trace" as swiftly as possible. On 



20 Unknown to Boone, there was encamped onl_v six miles away 
another party of wliite hunters from Virjijinia. These were attacked 
by the Indians two nights later and lost two men killed and three 
wounded. 

30 Boone to Henderson, Collins, Vol. II, p. 498. 

31 Henderson's "Journal," Draper Manu.icriptn. 

32 Even Captain Hart retreated and decided, as Henderson ironi- 
cally states, to raise corn at home for the Kentucky people. 

SI Cocke vs. Henderson, Cat. Va. St. Papers. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 89 

the eighteenth he was met by Stoner with pack horses and 
an escort promised by Boone in his letter. Two days later 
he reached the Kentucky River and found that Boone had 
already arrived and constructed a rough fort. 

A candid admirer of Boone might well be at a loss to 
say whether instinct or reason had induced him to select 
such an unsuitable place for a settlement. He designed 
to build the town in the narrow valley that lay along the 
banks of the Kentucky. On the north side ran the narrow 
current of the stream, on whose northern banks arose high 
and precipitous cliffs. From their summits a rifleman 
could command any point in the valley across the river. 
Both banks of the river were thickly screened by the trees ; 
these were never felled and afforded an easy approach to 
the fort. On the south side, lofty hills arose at no great 
distance from the fort. They, like the cliffs on the other 
side of the river, commanded the fort. On all sides the 
fort lay exposed to any enemy of determination and skill. 

In Boone's party when he had arrived at the Kentucky 
were about twenty-five men ; Henderson had brought in 
forty more.^^ Accommodations had to be provided for 
this additional number. Boone had built his cabin on 
the west bank of a little stream that flows into the Ken- 
tucky about one-half mile below Otter Creek. Henderson 
found it impracticable to build cabins for his men at the 
same place and after reflection he decided to build a fort 
on the east, some three hundred yards away. By the twen- 
ty-second of April !:]ie fort was under way and lots had 
been laid off for the men. The men were to draw for the 
lots, and here it was that Henderson encountered his first 



3* Henderson's "Journal.' 



90 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

opposition. Robert McAfee ^^ refused to take part in the 
lottery, sa3'ing lie wished to go some fifty miles down the 
river and make a settlement. Nevertheless, the drawing 
was made, houses were built, a magazine erected and seed 
planted. A few days later Captain Hairod and Colonel 
Slaughter came into the fort from their settlement on Salt 
River. Captain John Floyd also put in his appearance, 
and because he was deputy-survcA'or of Flncastle County, 
gave Henderson considerable anxiet}^ 

There is no reason to believe that Henderson had ever 
intended to claim or assert any right of government over 
the territory- he had purchased.^" The right of eminent 
domain and of government, as he very well knew, belonged 
to England. But a quarrel broke out between Slaughter 
and Harrod in regard to their land on Salt River, and 
Henderson, much embarrassed, proposed that the different 
settlements in Kentucky should send delegates to Boones- 
borough and form a representative government. 

For Boonesborough was not the only settlement in Ken- 
tucky at this time.^' There were three others that deserved 
the name; these were Harrodstown, Boiling Springs and 
Saint Asaph. The story of their settling must be briefly 
told. 

It has already been related how Harrod and a company 
of Virginians had laid out Harrodstown in the spring of 
1774, but after being Marncd of impending war by Boone 

35 The McAfees had returned to Kentucky in March, and after 
planting a croj) liad set out for Virginia. They met Henderson, 
and all but James returned with him. 

:»i Deposition of John Floyd, Cal. Va. St. Papers. Vol. I, p. 309. 

•'*7 There were several bands of white men in Kentucky. Kenton 
had returned in tiie early spring, had found the "cane land" and 
was living in a cabin where Washington now stands. The Hinkston 
company of fifteen men were encamped on the creek of that name. 
Floyd's company of thirty men were encamped on Dick's River. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 91 

and Stoncr had abandoned their "improvements." In 
March, 1775, accompanied by fifty men he had returned to 
liis abandoned settlement. The news of Boone's misfor- 
tune at the hands of the Indians had caused man}^ of his 
men to return home, but at the time Henderson called the 
convention Harrodstown was generally considered a strong 
settlement. It is worthy of note that it enjoys the dis- 
tinction of being the first settlement in Kentucky. Boiling 
Springs had also been settled by Harrod and his com- 
panions, but was not a fortified place nor as large as 
Harrodstown. 

Saint Asaph had 'oeen founded by Benjamin Logan and 
was quite generally known as Logan's Fort."^'^ Logan was 
a Virginian, and starting to Kentucky had fallen in with 
Henderson and made the trip with him. Becoming dis- 
pleased with Henderson's plans, he separated from him at 
Rockcastle River, and cutting a road '^'^ of his own west- 
wardly he established a settlement near the present site of 
Stanford. The character and reputation of Logan was 
such that in a few weeks numerous settlers were attracted 
thither and Saint Asaph shortly grew to be an important 
place. 

From the four settlements in Kentucky, Henderson 
called for delegates to be elected and meet at Boonesbor- 
ough.^*^ The delegates arrived and on May 23d held 
their first meeting under a great elm tree near the "lick." 
This was between the fort and Boone's stockade. Slaughter 
was selected as chairman of the convention much to the 
chagrin, doubtless, of Captain Harrod. Henderson opened 



38 Speed, Wilderness Road, p. 27. 

39 This road was extended to Danville and Louisville and soon 
superseded Boone's as the main highway to Virginia. 

■to Henderson's "Journal." 



92 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

their deliberations with an address in which lie pointed out 
several matters for their consideration and denounced the 
preclamatlon recently issued against him by Governor Dun- 
more. ^^ To this speech the convention replied in an ad- 
dress wherein they asserted their right to frame local laws 
without giving umbrage to Great Britain or any of the 
colonies. 

The convention remained in session imtil the twenty- 
seventh, and during that time passed nine laws. These 
laws concerned themselves with a variety of topics ; estab- 
lishing courts, regulating the militia, punishing criminals, 
preventing pi'ofanity and Sabbath breaking, writs of at- 
tachment, clerk's and sheriff's fees, preserving the range, 
improving the breed of horses, and, finally, preserving 
the game. This last law was made necessary by the fact 
that the abundant game of the region was already fast 
disappearing, owing to reckless hunting by the settlers. 
The law for improving their horses shows that even at 
this date the Kentucky people were interested in the sub- 
ject that later, according to popular report, enjoyed their 
exckisive attention. 

At intervals throughout their lawmaking the legislators 
concerned themselves with other things. A committee was 
appointed to confer with Henderson concerning a suitable 
name for the colony, Henderson suggested "Transylvania" 
and the name was adopted. Later another committee, con- 
sisting of Boone, Harrod and Cocke, was appointed to 
urge the company to grant no land to newcomers save on 
the original conditions — higher prices than to the first 
settlers. Harrod's presence on this committee was signifi- 
cant, as he was later to change his attitude entirely. Be- 



<i Journal of the Convention, American Archives, Vol. IV, p. 546. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 93 

fore the convention adjourned, Henderson, inviting open 
investigation, appeared before them and displayed the deed 
the Indians had given him at Wataga. Finally on the 
last day of the session he entered into a solemn and written 
covenant with the people. By the provisions of this con- 
tract, which merits the name of a constitution, delegates 
were to be elected and meet annually, judges were to be 
appointed by the proprietors but answerable to the people ; 
all civil and military officers were to be appointed by the 
proprietors, there should be a surveyor-general who should 
not be a partner in the purchase, and the legislative au- 
thority thereafter should consist of the delegates, a council 
of twelve men and the proprietors. The agreement was 
signed by Henderson, Nathaniel Hart, Luttrell and 
Slaughter. It is significant that no mention was made of 
executive authority. 

The convention adjourned on the twenty-seventh to 
meet again in September. The best men of the settle- 
ments had taken part in it and they were, as Henderson 
testified, a fine body of men. Their work had been done 
well and with dignity. They went to their homes well 
pleased with the Transylvania Company and its treatment 
of themselves. 



94 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 



TRANSYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA. 

AFTER the departure of the delegates, Booncsborough 
■^ ^ settled down to the by no means humdrum life of a 
provincial capital. The center and the nucleus of the 
town was the fort; it \>as built in tlie form of a parallelo- 
gram and measured, probably, some two hundred and sixty 
feet in length by one hundred and eighty in breadth.^ The 
walls of the fortification were composed of the walls of the 
settlers' cabins and interstices filled with palisades. At 
each of the four corners was a cabin of two stories which 
served as a watchtower and a redoubt in case of war. All 
the cabins had their roofs sloping inward so that they 
might be less readily set on fire by the enemy. On the 
opposite side of the fort were gates. But not all the 
settlers were located in the fort ; Boone had erected two 
cabins on the other side of the "lick." Mr. Hart, also, 
one of the proprietors, to show his independence of Hen- 
derson, built his cabin outside the fort. Not a few others 
followed his example, and it was only in case of danger 
that all tlic settlers lived within the fortification. In fact, 
in times of peace not all the cabins within the fort were 
occupied by any means. ^ 

There were at the beginning of June about sixty men, 
and no women, within Booncsborough.^ As a means of sub- 
sistence all were engaged in hunting or in raising Indian 
corn. The former was much the more popular, and strong 
persuasion had sometimes to be used in order that com- 



1 Rancke, Boonesborough, p. 35. 

2 There were twenty-six cabins and four blockhouses in the fort. 
•< Henderson's Letter to Colleagues, June 12, 1776, in Rancke's 

Boonesborough. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 95 

raising might not be altogether neglected. In one of the 
block houses Henderson made his home and opened a store. 
Goods of various kinds were sold here and on credit. Great- 
er reliance was put on the store for provision than even at 
first. For reckless hunting, as the Convention had noted, 
had already resulted in the destruction of much of the game 
and the gradual driving out of the remainder. Hunters 
had now to go fifteen and often thirty miles before finding 
any game at all.^ Yet the men still preferred the life of a 
hunter to any other. Only reluctantly did they engage in 
other occupations. When by chance any one wished to em- 
ploy laborers he was compelled to pay three times the wages 
that prevailed in Virginia or on the Yadkin. The truth 
was, as Henderson wrote home to one of his colleagues, 
that many of the settlers were idle and worthless, having 
come to Kentucky merely that they might go back home 
and boast of their journey. The people when they did 
work were scattered over the little farms which extended 
two miles along the river and Otter Creek. They went to 
the fields without their guns and, apparently, had for- 
gotten all about their former disaster. Boone had finished 
his little stockade to the west of the "lick" soon after 
arriving, but so great was the seeming sense of security 
that no amount of solicitation was able to induce the men 
to complete the main fort. 

In all Kentucky there were in the summer of 1775 
some three hundred men.^ Most of these, outside of Boones- 
borough, were at Harrodstown, Logan's and Boiling 
Springs, but there were several minor parties in different 
sections of the country. Kenton was occupying a cabin 
where Washington now stands ; Hinkston with fifteen men 



* Henderson's "Journal." 
5 Butler, Kentucky, p. 30. 



96 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

was encamped on the stream that now bears his name; 
Miller with fourteen men was giving his name to a well- 
known creek ; McConnell with a small band was loitering 
near Kenton ; Lindsday and others were encamped around 
the spring that was later to be enclosed in the town of 
Lexington. In all, the various parties had about two 
hundred acres of land under cultivation. 

Kentuck}^ was fast becoming a white man's land. Hen- 
derson had opened a land office at Bounesborough •" and 
was rapidly granting land to actual settlers. He had also 
made out commissions for local officers at Logan's, Boil- 
ing Springs and Harrodstown. He had taken occasion 
to personally visit the three forts and found with a degree 
of pleasure that, though provisions, and especially salt, 
were scarce, the people seemed prosperous and well pleased 
with Kentucky and the Company. 

But, as Henderson very well knew, there was no such 
tranquil life before him and his colleagues. A'irginia and 
North Carolina had both, through their governors, de- 
nounced him and his treaty in no measured terms. Ac- 
cording to the Governor of Virginia, the infant colony of 
Transylvania was an asylum for rogues and debtois; Hen- 
derson, moreover, was a disorderly person of whom the 
loving subjects of His Majesty should beware;^ His Ma- 
jesty had rescrA'ed Kcntuckj^ for other uses and all his 
civil and military officers should unite in throwing out the 
said Henderson. Henderson had, in opening the conven- 
tion, adverted to the admirable solicitude of Virginia's 
royal Governor and then gone calmly on with his under- 
taking. But on some of the settlers the proclamation was 



8 Henderson's "Journal." 

7 Dunmore's Proclamation in the American Archives, Vol. II, 
p. 174. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 97 

liaving a difFcrent effect. Over at Harrodstown and Boil- 
ing Springs, where Captain Harrod's influence was para- 
mount, disaff'ection began to appear. Hite was apparent!}^ 
the leader in the movement, but the guiding hand was 
that of Harrod. 

That the revolt should come to light at Hariodstown 
Mas very natural. It had been settled long before Boones- 
borough and was not pleased to be thrust in the back- 
ground while a later settlement secured and enjoyed the 
lienor of being the capital.^ The settlers of the town had 
located their claim under Virginia government and on re- 
flection did not enjo}^ the prospect of exchanging the in- 
efl'ective rule of that province for the specific regulations 
of the Transj^lvania Compan3\ Land was cheaper under 
Virginia land laws than under Transylvania. Over at 
Logan's Fort, Logan himself had, from his quarrel with 
Henderson, held sullenly aloof from things Transylvanian ; 
he was a powerful influence in the new country and his 
attitude helped spread the disaff'ection. Finally, George 
Rogers Clarke found his wa}' to Harrodstown in the spring 
of 1775, and at once cast himself into the fight against 
Henderson. This ambitious, unscrupulous and intemperate 
man was a native of Albermarle County, Virginia, had been 
a neighbor of Jefferson and a schoolmate of Madison's, 
and had for several years before his appearance in Ken- 
tucky lived a roving and somewhat malodorous life as a 
frontier surveyor.^ He had been an associate of Cresap 
and Connolly in the preliminaries of Dunmore's War, and 
later became their staunch defender. He had served in the 



8 This ill-feeling between the two towns was accentuated by the 
fact that the Boonesborough people were Carolinians; Harrodstown, 
Virginians. 

9 English, Life of Clarke, Chap. II. 



98 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

war and liad made tlie acquaintance of Hai'rod, Kenton, 
Hite and other pionctrs of Kentucky, He was a deputy- 
surveyor under Hancock Lee.^*^ Clarke was perhaps the 
only man in Kentucky at that time the equal of Henderson. 
To his fiery and amhitious spiint the claims of the Tran- 
s^'lvania Company were like a challenge to battle. He 
worked during the summer secretly against Henderson and 
returned in tlie fall to Virginia. 

It so happened that within the course of this critical 
summer both Boone and Henderson felt constrained to 
leave their newly planted colony. Boone started home 
June 13th, for the purpose of leading out his family and 
neighbors to Boonesborough.^^ Henderson, T. Hart and 
Luttrell set out in Augiist for the North Carolina settle- 
ments in order to attend a meeting of Proprietors.' - 
Nathaniel Henderson remained at Boonesborough as jus- 
tice of the peace. So Transylvania was left without a 
guide. David and Nr.thaniel Hart, it is true, remained, 
but they had by thisj time become thoroughly at variance 
with Henderson and were rather disturbing agents than 
leaders. 

The proprietors assembled at Oxford, N. C, the twenty- 
eighth of September. Their meeting was a busy one and 
many things of importance were done. One of their own 
number, John Williams, was designated to be a permanent 
land agent at Boonesborough and his salary was fixed at 
one hundred and fifty pounds. ^'^ A vote of thanks was 
given Calloway and Boone for their efforts in behalf of 
the colonv, and the latter was voted two thousand acres 



10 Clarke settled at Leestown. 

11 Filson, Autobiography of Boone, p. 57. 

12 Rancke, Boonesboroiujh, p. 38. 

^^ American Archives, Vol. IV, p. 554. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 99 

of land, while the former's son was given six hundred and 
forty acres. James Hogg was chosen to represent the 
colony in the Continental Congress then sitting at Phila- 
delphia, and a memorial was given him to present to that 
body. The price of land was raised from twenty to fifty 
shillings per hundred acres. It will be remembered that 
Henderson, before starting from Boonesborough, had told 
the prospective settlers that this would be the case. Then, 
after preparing some elaborate advertisements to be sent 
through the colonies, the meeting adjourned. 

Williams speedily set out for Boonesborough and 
reached the fort in the last days of December.^* He found 
that Boone had returned the first of September and had 
brought his wife and children with him. Several others, 
including Calloway, had brought out their families and 
Boonesborough began to acquire a more domestic appear- 
ance. Boone, in fact, had started back with a party of 
thirty, but some of them under the leadership of the hot- 
headed Hugh INIcGary had gone to Harrodstown. Michael 
Stoner, a quiet, indefatigable "Dutchman" and the official 
hunter of Boonesborough, had one day fallen in with Ken- 
ton ^^ at the Lower Blue Licks and had surprised that 
worthy very much with the information that there were 
other occupants of Kentucky than himself. Kenton 
had straightway returned with Stoner and was now at 
Hinkston. Floyd had been left by Henderson in charge 
of the land office and had done a flourishing business. 
There had been little evidence of Indian hostility except 
that Kenton had lost a companion near Lower Blue Licks. 

The first act of Colonel Williams was to select a man 
for the very important office of surveyor-general. That 



1* Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. IV, p. 62. 
10 Hartley, Life of Kenton, Chap. II. 



100 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

he might make no mistake in this, lie resolved to call to- 
gether the Assemhly.^" But it was the dead of winter and 
few were able to come ; those that did come unanimously 
recommended Floyd for the place. Nathaniel Henderson 
was put in charge of the entering office. Under the direc- 
tion of these two men the locating of land went on rap- 
idly ; by the first of January there were nearly nine hun- 
dred claims recorded and many thousand acres surveyed. 
The people, as a rule, seemed well affected towards the 
company, save those at Harrodstown. Here the men were 
binding themselves into a league to hold no land save on 
the original terms, and four of them, Hite, Bowman, 
Wharton and McAfee, presented to Williams a remon- 
strance against the increase in prices. ^^ Williams answered 
with a spirited defense of the Company. He made prepa- 
rations, however, to go to Harrodstown himself and open 
a land office to see if he were able to allay the growing 
excitement. Of all the Kentucky country, the most valued 
part was that around the Falls of the Ohio. Great estates 
had been secured there by a few enterprising settlers and 
of this the Harrodstown people bitterly complained. Wil- 
liams at once proclaimed that no more lands should be 
surveyed there except in tracts of a thousand acres or less ; 
these, moreover, to be forfeited unless settled at once. 
Williams also announced his intention of laying off a town 
there in the early spring. But when spring came he could 
not find the requisite number of men for the undertaking, 
for there had been an Indian attack at Boonesborough 
and many people, consequently, had found it imperative 
to look after their affairs in Virginia or Carolina. Colonel 



i« Williams' Letter to the Proprietors, American .irchlven. Vol. 
IV, p. 559. 

IT Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. I. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 101 

Campbell/^ accompanied by two boys, had crossed the 
river at Boonesborough for a Imnt. Ahuost immediately 
the Shawnese had set upon them and scalped the boys, but 
Campbell escaped. Boone started in pursuit, found one 
of the boys scalped, tracked the Indians to the Ohio, but 
made no discovery of the fate of the other boy. 

Meanwhile Hogg had proceeded to Philadelphia on his 
mission of securing from the Continental Congress a recog- 
nition of the Transylvania colony. ^^ He had sanguine 
expectations of success. The plans of the Transylvania 
Company had been under consideration in the Virginia 
Convention and had received warm support from both 
Jefferson and Henry. Henry, in pre-revolutionary times, 
had himself negotiated for a share in the Transylvania 
Company. Henderson had written personal letters of 
thanks to both Jefferson and Henry and thought he could 
count on their support. ^"^ But times had changed. Henry 
now saw a way of expanding Virginia at the expense of 
Transylvania, whereas before the suppressing of Transyl- 
vania would have helped only England. So the Virginia 
delegates in the Congress opposed the recognition, and 
Jefferson "gently hinted" that the Kentucky country really 
belonged to Virginia. Other members of the Congress, 
notably the two Adamses and Silas Deane, were favorably 
inclined to the colony, and, in general, acknowledged the 
validity of the charter. But against the opposition of 
Virginia nothing could be done. 

In the spring of 1776, George Rogers Clarke reap- 
peared at Harrodstown and the bad feeling there came 



18 Williams' Letter to Proprietors, Perrin's History of Kentucky, 
p. 136. 

I'J Proprietors to Henry and Jefferson, in Rancke's Boonesborough 
(Appendix). 

20 American Archives, Vol. IV, p. 543. 



102 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

rapidly to a head.^^ At his sugfvcstion a convention was 
called at Harrodstown, June 6th, which decided to appoint 
Clarke and Gabriel Jones as delegates to the Virginia 
Convention. The two were instructed to appeal to Vir- 
ginia to overthi'ow Transylvania and incorporate the coun- 
try under licr own government. At the same time Slaugh- 
ter and Harrod were appointed to visit the northern In- 
dians and find out their intentions in the war that was 
just begun between the colonies and England."" For at 
that critical time the attitude of the Indians was of great 
importance to all Kentucky. Every one knew the provi- 
sions of the treaty that had closed Dunmorc's war; they 
also knew the extreme improbability of their being kept. 
In fact, the Indians were already violating it; they had 
killed two boys at Boonesborough, murdered Lee at Lees- 
town, and were constantly prowling in predatory bands 
throughout the land. 

The action of the Harrodstown people was not at all 
to Clarke's liking; he preferred independence first and 
negotiation with Virginia later. He knew, also, enough 
about the Tidewater brand of statesmanship to realize 
that for himself and Jones a seat in the Virginia Assembly 
was about as attainable as a habitation in the Elysian fields. 
Nevertheless, they undertook the journey and set out for 
Williamsburg.'^ They carried with them a petition to the 
Virginia Assembly to reassert her claim to Kentucky and 
relieve the land from the tyranny and exactions of Hen- 
derson. The petitioners stated that they were convinced 
the land belonged to Virginia and that the reason for the 
lateness of their action was because they had only recently 



21 English, Life of Clarke, p. 68. 

22 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. IV, p. 74. 
^^ American Archives, Vol. VI, p. 1529. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 103 

heard of the treaty of Fort Stanwix. This statement would 
indicate eitlier a very slow rate of speed for colonial news 
or else an extraordinary deafness on the part of the citi- 
zenship of Harrodstown. 

When the two envoys had come into the neighborhood 
of Charlottesville, they found that the elusive Assembly 
had already adjourned, not to meet again until October. ^^ 
Jones, thereupon, made his way to the Holstein Valley for 
a visit, but Clarke pushed on to Hanover County to see 
the Governor. The Governor of Virginia was Patrick 
Henry, who was finding in patriotism and office holding a 
quick forgetfulness of his early negotiations with the 
Transylvania Company. By him Clarke was received in 
a most cordial and noncommittal manner. Clarke was 
given a letter to Virginia's executive council and imme- 
diately demanded of it an assumption of jurisdiction over 
Kentucky. The form of the jurisdiction, Clarke urged, 
should be the sending of five hundred pounds of powder 
across the mountains, so that Harrodstown might defend 
itself against the Indians. The council after much hesi- 
tation declared it could not assert jurisdiction, but was 
willing to lend Clarke the powder. Clarke lost no time 
in rejecting this offer and declared that Kentucky would 
assert her independence. Thereupon the council, per- 
haps not to his joy, granted his request and gave him an 
order for the powder. 

This action foreshadowed the permanent pohcy of Vir- 
ginia. When her Assembly met in the autumn Jones and 
Clarke were present and handed in the Harrodstown peti- 
tion. ^^ It was signed by eighty-four men, eighty-three of 
whom sank, or remained, in merited oblivion, Harrod, 



-* The assembly had met at Williamsburg. 
25 American Archives, Vol. VI, p. 1573. 



104 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

alone, was a man of worth. He had been a member of 
the Boonesborough Convention and was much trusted by 
Henderson. A satisfactory reason for his cliange of heart 
has not appeared after a century of searching. Hender- 
son was there, also, and Campbell, to present the claims of 
Transylvania, But Virginia's thirst had not been satiated 
by the confiscation of Indiana or the theft of Fort Pitt. 
It was in vain that Henderson called to their memory the 
legal opinions of the Imperial counsellor, or recounted his 
hardships in settling the land. The Assembly passed an 
act incorporating all Kentucky as far as the Tennessee 
River and naming it Kentucky County. ^*^ 

Transylvania ended, as it began, in bloodshed. As the 
Colony grew unconsciously to a close, Indian activities 
were reported in many places. Two of these deserve, per- 
haps, a place in history. At Boonesborough, Jemima 
Boone, suffering from a cane stab in her foot, persuaded 
her two friends Frances and Elizabeth Calloway to join 
her in a canoe ride that she might bathe the injured foot 
in the cool water.^^ While the attention of the three was 
given to other things, the canoe gradually drifted down 
stream and went aground on a sandbar near the northern 
shore. Immediately five Indians sprang into the water 
from their place of concealment and seized the canoe. 
Notwithstanding Elizabeth Calloway's use of the paddle, 
the girls were quickly overpowered, hurried on shore and 
marched rapidly northward. The men at the fort wei'c 
apprised of the capture by the shrieks of the girls and at 
once hurried in pursuit ; Boone, with seven men, fol- 
lowed on foot while others followed on horseback. The 
capture was made on Sunda}" afternoon and the following 

20 Hcninp's Statutes, Vol. IV, p. 257. 

:;t Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. IV, p. 78. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 105 

Tuesday morning the pursuers came up with the Indians 
as they were preparing their breakfast near the Lower Blue 
Licks. A swift rescue was effected with but one Indian 
escaping. The affair had its romantic side in the fact 
that three of Boone's men — Holder, Henderson and Callo- 
way — were the lovers and later the husbands of Frances 
Calloway, Elizabeth Calloway and Jemima Boone. 

The second occasion of Indian activity was less roman- 
tic and more perilous. In December, Jones and Clarke, 
returning from Williamsburg, came by way of Fort Pitt 
in order to get the powder collected for them there by 
Virginia. ^^ A small boat and seven boatmen were secured 
and the party started down the Ohio for Kentucky. But 
the Indians had news of the cargo and lost no time in 
pursuing. Clarke, however;, reached Three Islands near 
the present Maysville, and disembarking secreted the pow- 
der along the banks of Limestone Creek and set the boat 
adrift as a decoy. Then the whole party set out overland 
for central Kentucky to secure help in bringing in the 
ammunition. On the west fork of Licking they came upon 
the deserted cabin of Hinkston and found several survey- 
ors in the vicinity. These told them Captain Todd was 
near with enough men to bring in the powder. Todd not 
appearing, Clarke with two companions, and guided b}'^ 
Kenton, pushed on to Hariodstown. Hardly had he left 
when Todd appeared : though he had but six men he yet 
resolved on hearing of the powder, to go and bring it in. 
His rashness received a speedy reward. At the Lower 
Blue Licks he was ambushed by the Indians who had found 
Clarke's trail and were following him. Two men were 
killed, of whom Jones was one, and two captured ; Todd 



28 Bradford, Notes on Kentucky, p. 25. 



106 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

and the others escaped to McClelhui's Fort. Clarke re- 
turning from ITarrodstow n found tlicm here and tlie whole 
party were soon attacked by the victorious Indians. The 
red men, however, were beaten and their leader killed. 
Clarke then safely carried in the powder. 

In this connection it may not be inappropriate to sketch 
the future fortunes of tlip Transylvania proprietors. The 
act creating Kentucky County and nullifying Transylvania 
was passed in the autunui of 1776. A committee had been 
appointed by the Virginia Convention the preceding July 
to investigate the Henderson purchase and report. William 
Russell, Arthur Campbell, Thomas Madison, Edmund 
Winston, John Bowyer, John May, Samuel ^McDowell, J. 
Harvey, Abram Hitc, Charles Sims, James Woods, Hugh 
Innes, Paul Carrington, Bennet Goode and Joseph Speed 
composed the committee and gave in their report in the 
winter of 1778. Virginia by establishing Kentucky Coun- 
ty had prejudged the case. The committee in the course 
of a period of investigation extending over two years, 
heard the evidence of practically every person of impor- 
tance connected with the affair. The depositions are pre- 
served in the Calendar of Virginia State Papers and are 
almost without exception favorable to Henderson. But 
when the committee made its report affairs were too far 
gone to ever be turned back. Henderson had kept up a 
continual agitation before the Virginia Assembly and that 
body in the fall of 1778, in tardy and partial compensa- 
tion, gave him two hundred thousand acres of land at the 
mouth of Green River, Kentuck3\ 

North Carolina took a similar action, allowing him two 
hundred thousand acres around the present Nashville. It 
will be remembered tliat Henderson's purchase extended 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 107 

far down into Tennessee, and the territory now granted 
him was a part of the original tract. Henderson removed 
to his North Carolina property and enjoyed many honors 
at the hands of his fellow citizens until his death. He was 
once to revisit Kentucky in 1780, when he made a short 
stay at his old capital Boonesborough while he collected 
supplies for his new post on the Cumberland. North Caro- 
lina appointed him one of her commissioners to run the 
boundary line between that State and Virginia, and he 
later served as a member of the North Carolina Legisla- 
ture. There are few cases in history where a man after 
being denounced by a government as a traitor, enjoyed 
such high honors at its hands. Henderson's later career 
speaks well for the uprightness and rectitude of his life. 



108 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 



KENTUCKY COUNTY. 

TT /"HILE Virginia and Transylvania had been wrang- 
^ ~ ling about Kentucky, the ill-feeling between England 
and her colonies had reached a climax. On the fourth of 
July, 1776, after a year of hostilities, the colonies had as- 
serted their independence and thenceforth the revolt widened 
into a revolution. The struggle was characterized on both 
sides by weird inefficiency and brutality. It was a contest 
in which the one country was not able unaided to attack nor 
the other powerful unaided to defend. England was 
hindered by intervening oceans, hampered by inefficient or 
half -hearted commanders, and harassed by a network of 
enemies ; the colonies were doomed to divided action and un- 
tried counsels. Neither could utilize its full strength and 
both speedily began a search for allies. The colonies ob- 
tained help from abroad and contended against England 
to secure the aid of the Indians at home. But in the 
rivalry for Indian assistance the colonists were from the 
beginning at a hopeless disadvantage. Of the Indians, some 
tribes, as the Six Nations, preferred the English to colonist 
because of long alliance ; others, and they were the most 
numerous, took the side of the English because of the fact 
that they hated the colonists, a hatred sufficiently justified 
by their past experience. So, not without great outlay of 
gifts and persuasion, the Indians of all sections took up 
arms for the English. Nor was the course of England one 
of unusual turpitude; the colonists did the same. The 
American condemnation of English policy in this instance 
is apparently due to the fact that England obtained the 
alliance whicli the colonists could only desire. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY ]09 

There can be no real understanding of Kentucky his- 
tory without a clear conception of conditions existing in 
the region north of the Ohio River. The history of Ken- 
tucky is inextricably mingled with that of the northern 
Indians and of early Canada. At the beginning of the 
Revolution Sir Guy Carleton was sent out from England 
to be Governor of Canada. His capital was at Quebec 
and he had jurisdiction over all the British possessions not 
within the limits of the thirteen original colonies. Acting 
under Carleton were several lieutenant-governors located 
at the exposed forts on the Canadian frontier. The office 
of Superintendents of Indian Affairs was filled by these 
lieutenant-governors and their chief duty was to keep the 
Indian tribes well disposed to England and hostile to her 
enemies. To Henry Hamilton, residing at Detroit and 
managing the Indians from that place, fell the duty of 
arranging the Indian foraj^s into Kentuck3^ He arrived 
at Detroit in November, 1775, and performed most admir- 
ably the duties of his trying situation until he Avas captured 
by Clarke in 1778. Before his appointment he had seen 
service in the English army as a lieutenant and possessed 
respectable military ability. He was personally a kind- 
hearted, genial man who constantly did all in his power to 
mitigate the horrors of savage warfare. To the north and 
west of Detroit was the fort of Michilimacinack where De 
Peyster held command of two companies of soldiers and 
acted as Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the absence of 
the Lieutenant-Governor, Patrick Sinclair. For the various 
towns in the Illinois, David Abbot was the lieutenant-gover- 
nor and had his headquarters at Vincennes.* 



1 Matthew Johnson had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of 
the Illinois country, but never reached his post — a fact which did not 
at all jirevent hira from drawing the salary pertaining to it. 



no HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

England possessed on the Great Lakes a small but very 
efficient navy, built for the most part at Detroit. There 
were four schooners and four sloops on Lake Erie, one 
sloop on Lake Huron and one on Lake Michigan. In addi- 
tion to this naval force Hamilton held about five hundred 
men under the command of Captain Lernoult. Among 
these were two companies of Rangers which it was the 
custom to intermix with the Indians on their expeditions. 
On such occasions both Indians and Rangers were put 
under the special command of "Indian officers," who were 
men that had by long service become thoroughly familiar 
with Indian manners and customs. These officers were 
never Indians. 

Such were the military arrangements of the English 
in the northwest. On the colonial side, Fort Pitt, at the 
present site of Pittsburg, occupied the same position that 
Detroit held among the English. There, early in 1776, 
the Continental Congress had placed George Morgan as 
Indian agent for the tribes north of the Ohio, with wide 
instructions for dealing with the Indians. At the same 
place they had located General Edward Hand of the Con- 
tinental army to have charge of the military operations 
that might be necessar}'^ in the west. Fort Pitt was at this 
time in the possession of the Virginians ; they had built 
several other forts along the lower course of the Ohio, as 
a step toward retaining their hold on the western regions. 
Of these, Fort Henry, where Wheeling, West Virginia, now 
stands, and Fort Randolph, at the mouth of the Great 
Kanawha, were the most important. 

There was a continued rivalry between Hamilton at 
Detroit and Morgan at Fort Pitt to secure the active or 
passive assistance of the Indians, In the summer of 1775, 
Carlcton sent emissiu'ics to the various tribes, inciting them 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 111 

to take up arms for the King. In the spring of 1776 a 
grand treaty was held at Detroit where, after five days 
consumed in speeches, the Indians definitely declared for 
England. Morgan, however, soon heard of this, and by 
a personal visit to the Delawares and Shawnese, did much 
to nullify Hamilton's work. He induced many of the 
tribes to attend a meeting at Fort Pitt and make a treaty 
of peace. He went even further and planned an expedi- 
tion to capture the British posts in the Illinois, but his 
plans miscarried. In the spring of 1777, Hamilton had 
another meeting with the Indians at Detroit, delivered the 
war hatchet and many presents to them and sent them out 
on the warpath toward the forts south of the Ohio. Before 
the year was out more than a thousand warriors, officered 
by Englishmen, were hovering around the little forts at 
Fort Pitt, Henrj'^, Randolph and the Kentucky stockades. 
Of the frontier posts against wliich this force was 
directed, none were more exposed than those in Kentucky. 
It lay like a shield across the western region of Virginia 
and penetrated the Indian country for two hundred miles. 
The feeblest vision could foresee that there were troub- 
lous times in store for Kentucky if the Indians should again 
take the warpath. Moreover, at this time of greatest need 
the Kentucky settlements were at their weakest stage. 
Indian depredations and the rumors of war had, at the 
opening of 1777, well-nigh depopulated the country. 
Three hundred people ^ had left the country and seven 
stations had been abandoned.^ Boonesborough, Harrods- 
town and McClelland's alone survived, and the last named 
was abandoned in the earl}' days of 1777. There were, 



2 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. IV, p. 104, 

3 Huston's, Hinkston's, Bryant's, Whitley's, Logan's, Harrod's and 
Leestown. 



112 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

then, in tlic beginning of 1777, but two settlements and a 
possible one hundred and fifty men in Kentucky. Many 
of the people from the abandoned forts had found refuge 
at Boonesborough or Harrodstown, the latter gaining 
many accessions, particularly from Logan's ■* and McClel- 
land's. The enmity between Boonesborough and Harrods- 
town had not abated. Rather had it increased because of 
Virginia's action in making Harrodstown the capital of 
the new county. 

The year opened with two months of deceptive calm. 
The Indians committed no depredations and seemed to have 
abandoned, or at least to have deferred, their wrath against 
Kentucky. In February Logan moved his family back to 
Saint Asaph and reoccuplcd his fort. The settlers began 
to recover their spirits and venture away from the support 
and protection of the stockades. Such peaceful times wene 
destined, however, to be by no means lasting. Already the 
British Governor of Canada was directing his Indian 
allies toward Kentucky with comprehensive instructions 
to destroy the settlements there. The blow was not long 
in falling. But even the short delay of a few weeks had 
sufficed for completing the military organization of the 
people. Colonel Bowman ^ was to lead a regiment of troops 
from Virginia; Clarke, who had been commissioned Major, 
personally commanded at Harrodstown ; Captain Calloway 
and Captain Boone had charge at Boonesborough, and 
Captain Logan was supreme at Saint Asaph. Clarke was 
in charge of the entire militia of the county until Bowman 
arrived in September." 



■* Logan himself with his slaves remained at tlie fort to continue 
his improvements. 

•'■' Morehead, Settlement of Kentucky, p. 59. 
Bradford, yotes on Kentucky, p. 26. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 113 

The Indians, in their attempt to destroy the Kentucky 
settlements, struck first at Harrodstown. Their forces 
were under the command of the great chieftain, Blackfish, 
and their coming was as silent as Indian caution could 
make it. Accident alone saved the fort from murderous 
surprise. It so happened that the two Ray brothers,' 
accompanied by William Coomes and Thomas Shores, had 
gone a little distance from the fort in order to clear some 
land. Three of them in the course of the day started off 
to visit a neighboring sugar camp, leaving Coomes at 
work in the clearing. The three fell in with Blackfish's 
Indians and two were killed at the first volley.^ But James 
Ray, who possessed what were possibly the longest legs 
on the western continent, took to his heels and made his 
escape while the Indians stood dumfounded at his speed. 
Reaching the fort, he gave the alarai, and McGary, with 
thirty men, set out for the sugar camp.*^ They found the 
lifeless body of William Ray and soon came upon Coomes 
who had discovered the Indians, but had concealed himself 
so thoroughly that he escaped detection. 

This incident occurred on the sixth of March, and the 
Indians, chagrined at their failure to surprise the fort, 
abandoned the attack for two days, hoping to lull the 
white men into a sense of security. At the expiration of 
this time they set fire to an isolated cabin outside the fort 
in order to lure the settlers to come out. The white men, 
apparently untaught by the death of Ray, rushed out 
to extinguish the flames, only to find themselves face to 
face with an overwhelming number of savages. Aided, 



7 Spalding, Sketches of Early Catholic Missions in Kentucky, p. 35. 

8 Clarke in his "Diary" says both men were killed. 

9 On hearing the news the anguished McGary upbraided Harrod 
for neglecting the defense of the fort. A conflict between the two 
was prevented only by the earnest efforts of McGary's wife. 



114 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

however, by the forests, tlie settlers succeeded in reaching 
the fort. Four white men were wounded and one Indian 
killed. After killing all the cattle they could find, the 
Indians withdrew, but roving bands continued to molest 
the fort throughout the year. Probably a score of men 
were lost by the three forts through isolated murders and 
many more in the concerted attacks. Truly, as Draper 
has said, "The year 1777 was one of constant watchfulness 
and anxiety in Kentucky." 

It is a striking revelation of the pioneer character, that 
in the midst of such suffering and anxiety, they seemed 
to have no thought of leaving their exposed position. Not- 
withstanding the Indian massacres, they proceeded with 
the organization of their government for all the world as 
if Kentucky was a land of peace and destined to lasting 
quiet. On April 19th, an election — the second in Ken- 
tucky — was held, and Calloway and John Todd chosen to 
represent the county in the Virginia Legislature. Clarke 
worked without ceasing to improve the military condition 
of the county. In April he called upon the commanders 
of the different forts to appoint two patrols, each to range 
along the Ohio and give notice of Indian approach. From 
Boonesborough, Boone appointed Kenton and Thomas 
Brooks ; Harrod named Moore and Collier ; and Logan, 
Conrad and Martin. These were to range by turns in pairs 
along the Ohio, changing each week. They did excellent 
service, but were more than once eluded by their crafty 
foes. At the same time Clarke dispatched two men ^° to 
the Illinois country to gather information for a scheme 
he had in mind. 



10 Linn and Moore. Bradford, 'Notes on Kentucky, p. 27. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 115 

The most northern, and consequently the most exposed 
of the three settlements, was Boonesborough ; against it 
the Indians directed their attacks with even greater fury 
than against Harrodstown. The first attempt was made 
on April 15th by the same Indians who had shortly before 
retired from Harrodstown.^^ There were only twenty-two 
"guns" in the fort as compared to the hundred under the 
command of Blackfish, yet after two days of fighting, the 
Indians withdrew in complete discomfiture. They con- 
tinued, however, to infest the forest and to cut off all strag- 
glers, keeping the settlers confined to the fort. On April 
24th, about forty or fifty of the original band made another 
concerted attack on the fort. Attacking and tomahawking 
a laboring man near the gate, they drew Boone outside by 
feigning a retreat. Boone, pursuing with ten men, sud- 
denly found himself cut off from the fort. He only re- 
gained it after desperate efforts. ^^ Seven men, including 
Boone, were wounded and the fort was besieged for three 
days. On May 23d a third attempt was made, and the 
fighting lasted two days, resulting in no loss to the whites 
except three men slightly wounded. ^^ 

Now the wrath of the Indians was turned against 
Logan's. Leaving prowling bands to prevent the sending 
of aid from Boonesborough or Harrodstown, the Indians 
in large numbers ^^ marched secretly on Logan's. On the 
morning of the twentieth of May they appeared before the 
fort and surprised the women milking the cows while a few 
men were standing on guard with ready rifles. Of the 



11 Filson, Autobiography of Boone, p. 58. 

12 It was in the desperate attempt to regain the fort that Kenton 
twice saved the life of Boone, the second time carrying him bodily 
into the fort after he was wounded. 

13 Clarke's "Diary." 

1* Smith estimates the number at 100. 



116 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

white men one was killed by the first volley and two were 
wounded; ^^ the women and the other men reached the fort 
unharmed. 

From this time until the close of the year, there was 
as little rest for Logan's as for Boonesborough or Har- 
rodstown. Yet it would be the reverse of the truth to 
refer, as many have done, to the siege of the fort. Ken- 
tucky in 1777 was continually infested by Hamilton's sav- 
ages, but for the most part they confined themselves to 
prowling through the forests, lurking around the forts and 
along the trails in small bodies, in the hope of killing from 
ambush whatever white men might come in their way. 
They were particularly successful in preventing communi- 
cation between the forts. Yet there is every evidence that 
the settlers did not consider themselves in particular dan- 
ger within their stockades. They continued, in fact, all 
their usual occupations, planting their crops and going on 
hunting trips whenever opportunity presented itself. Sev- 
eral times in the summer the savages appeared in force 
before the different forts, as in the attacks previously men- 
tioned, but these attacks were of short duration and re- 
sulted invariably in favor of the white men. The greatest 
danger to which the settlers were exposed came from con- 
cealed Indians when they were out hunting or tending their 
crops. There was also the anxiety caused by the gradual 



IS Of the wounded men one named Harrison staggered and fell 
some distance from the fort, whence the little garrison could plainly 
see him bleeding and pathetically trying to rise. Logan and a friend 
named Martin resolved to attempt a rescue, but Martin's courage 
failed him when the gate was opened, and Logan was left to face 
the Indians alone. Running straight into the Indian fire, he reached 
tlie wounded man, swimg him with easy strength to his shoulders 
and returned amid a hail of bullets, unharmed. Logan was a giant 
physically, and the early history of Kentucky abounds in stories of 
his exploits. It may be said in passing that his mental and moral 
equipments surpassed even his physical. He was probably the most 
heroic figure that ever trod Kentucky soil. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 117 

diminishing of their ammunition and the small prospect 
of getting more. Logan's Fort suffered more from this 
cause than did either of the others, and it was this fact 
that caused Logan to make his celebrated trip to the Hol- 
stein in the midst of the trouble that was come on Ken- 
tucky. He managed to elude the Indians, and, after many 
privations, reached the Holstein settlements two hundred 
miles to the east. Within two days he returned to his fort, 
while his companions followed him a little later, bringing 
four kegs of powder and four horseloads of lead.^*^ The 
feat was heroic, but it is absurd to represent him stealing 
out of a besieged fort and running the gauntlet of Indians 
that beset his path. 

On the first of August Colonel Bowman arrived at 
Boonesborough from Virginia with a much-needed enforce- 
ment of one hundred militia. ^^ This was the end of the 
Indian troubles for that year. But even at the last mo- 
ment the savages contrived to strike a blow. Learning 
of the coming of Bowman's men, they had carefully pre- 
pared an ambuscade into which the advance guard of the 
white men unsuspectingly fell. Several were killed before 
the main body came up and drove off the Indians. Upon 
the dead the Indians placed a proclamation signed by 
Hamilton, whicli proclaimed pardon and forgiveness to all 
the Kentuckians who would return to the allegiance of 
their Lord George III, and denouncing all who should 
neglect to so conduct themselves. What course the Ken- 
tuckians would, in the face of this magnanimous offer, 
have taken can only be conjectured, inasmuch as the papers 
fell into the hands of Logan, who, with lamentable lack 



16 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. IV, p. 131. 
IT He first came to Boonesborough where he was informed of 
Logan's distress. 



118 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

of respect for royal communications, promptly destroyed 
them. Notwithstanding the multiple guesses of succeed- 
ing historians in regard to the reason for Logan's action, 
it would not seem to require elaborate explanation. It was 
the most natural action for a man who in all his simple, 
heroic life never dallied with dishonor. 

With the coming of Bowman and his men, the long 
harassed pioneers took heart anew. Already a company 
of North Carolinians, numbering forty-five, had entered 
Kentucky and joined, as was natural, their friends at 
Boonesborough.^^ These additions made it possible for the 
little garrison to take the offensive. Even in June Major 
Smith, with seventeen other Boonesborough men, had ven- 
tured as far northward as the Ohio in pursuit of an Indian 
band, one of whom they killed. Returning, they surprised 
and scattered an Indian force of thirty and arrived safely 
at home with but one man wounded. A little later the 
Indians, in revenge, besieged the fort for the fourth time 
in the course of the year. Numbering two hundred, they 
kept up the siege for two days and nights with nmch clamor 
and no success. They then withdrew and Boonesborough 
enjoyed a respite after five months of constant anxiety. 
Harrodstown enjoyed the honor of bringing the year's 
hostilities to a fortunate close. Here Clarke, forewarned 
of the Indians by the uneasiness of the cattle, flanked their 
ambuscade, killed four and scattered the remainder in all 
directions. No further Indian conflicts worthy of the 
name occurred in the Kentucky country till 1778. 

From a record of Indian contests, it is pleasant to return 
to a story of more peaceful happenings. Virginia, in sup- 
porting the cause of liberty against England, had been 



18 July 25th, Captain Watkins was in command. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 119 

slow to organize the county she had with such dubious mor- 
ality acquired. True, the militia had been put in shape 
by Clarke in the early spring, but of civil government or 
regulation there was none. In the tumults of Indian war- 
fare the pioneers had not needed or desired other than 
military law ; now that the land was en j oying, or at least 
experiencing, a period of quiet, there came an opportunity 
and a desire for civil justice. By the act erecting Ken- 
tucky out of Fincastle County, Harrodstown was fixed 
upon as the seat of government.^^ The reason for this 
action is more evident than its justice. Here, on the second 
day of September, 1777, assembled the first ^^ court ever 
held in Kentucky. It was styled the Court of Quarter 
Sessions and was composed of five judges. These were 
John Todd, John Floyd, Benjamin Logan, John Bowman 
and Richard Calloway. None of these men were jurists, 
but they were all men that honored the law and loved 
justice. Perhaps no other five men could be named who 
deserved more of Kentucky or suffered more for her sake. 
A record of their lives would almost be a history of their 
country. Todd became one of the most eminent of Ken- 
tuckians and was honored abundantly even before his 
death. It may be sufficient to say of Floyd that he was 
the best beloved man in Kentucky. The deeds of Logan 
were such as to require no comment. Bowmen and Callo- 
way were both heroic figures and strove with all their might 
in behalf of their land and their people. Of the Court 
of Quarter Sessions Levi Todd was clerk. The entire 
military and civil provisions of the act creating Kentucky 



19 Hening, Statutes, Vol. IX, pp. 257, 258. 

-1 Trabue, in his Avtobiography. mentions a court held at Logan's 
in July. Bowman, Riddle, Calloway and Logan were judges and 
Levi Todd, clerk. 



120 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

were now put into effect and Kentuckians soon found them- 
selves living under a well-organized form of government. 
In the military organization to which allusion has already 
been made, John Bowman was county-lieutenant, Anthony 
Bledsoe, lieutenant-colonel, George Rogers Clarke, major, 
and Boone, Harrod, Todd and Logan, captains. Logan 
also served as the first sheriff of the new county, while John 
Ma}^ was the official surveyor. Ten justices of peace in 
the different stations lent their influence in preserving 
order among the sometimes unruly backwoodsmen.^^ 

While this Court was in session at Harrodstown a census 
was taken of the town.^^ It was found to have a popu- 
lation of 198, of whom 24* were women. There were 81 
arms-bearing men and 4 who were unfit for service. 
White children under the age of ten numbered 58 ; over 
ten, 12. There were 19 slaves, 7 of whom were less than 
ten years old. A census was most probably taken at other 
forts at the same time as at Harrodstown, but unfortu- 
nately it has not been preserved. The combined population 
of Boonesborough and Logan's probably did not equal that 
of Harrodstown. The population was, in fact, during the 
year rarely the same for any two weeks. Individuals and 
companies were constantly arriving and departing. The 
arrival of Bowman and Watkins has already been men- 
tioned. In October Clarke, with twenty-two men, started 
from Harrodstown for Virginia, and was joined by fifty- 
five men from Logan's, The next day Captain jNIontgom- 
ery came into Logan's with thirty-eight men. In Septem- 
ber, W. B. Smith, who had gone to the Yadkin to secure 
aid, had succeeded in piloting into Boonesborough Captain 
Holder and forty-eight men. In this manner the popula- 



21 Cowan's "Journal." 

22 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. IV, p. 131. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 121 

tion changed from day to day. With the closing of the 
year Kentucky' had practically the same population as in 
its beginning. 

What Clarke's reasons were for leaving Kentucky and 
returning to Virginia are unknown. ^^ He had declared 
his intention to resign his commission as major and not 
again to hold a military command unless there was impera- 
tive need. There can be little doubt that the principal 
motive influencing him in returning to Virginia was the 
desire to lay before Governor Henry a plan he had formed 
for invading the Northwest and capturing the English 
posts in the Illinois.^* He had, while in Virginia the pre- 
vious year, learned of Morgan's proposed conquest of the 
Illinois, and it was doubtless this fact that caused him to 
send the two spies there to find out the condition of the 
countr3^ These two men, after a roundabout journey by 
way of the Cumberland River, had visited Kaskaskia on 
the Mississippi, and on the twenty-second of June had 
returned with a vast store of information. They reported 
that the British were constantly sending out war parties 
from the Illinois posts ; that the militia in these posts 
were well trained, but had little fear of an American inva- 
sion ; that the French habitants were by no means ardent 
in their affection for the English; that the Spanish to the 
west were well disposed to the Americans, but that the 
English were closely watching the lower course of the Mis- 
sissippi and the Ohio.-^ The first part of this report was 
untrue, but the remainder extremely accurate, and no doubt 



23 Clarke's ostensible mission was to have the militia accounts 
drafted. 

-i Clarke's action from the time of leaving Kentucky until the 
capture of Vincennes are most minutely and critically set forth in 
Consul Butterfield's Conquest of the Illinois. 

2r- Clarke's "Memoir," Dillon's Indiana, p. 118. 



122 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

as Clarke reflected on the situation, he became convinced 
that the capture of the British posts was both feasible and 
necessary. 

In the summer ^'^ Clarke had sent Harrod and a compan- 
ion to Fort Pitt, apparently for ammunition ; they had 
brought back the report that there was no apparent pros- 
pects of peace. This fact and his knowledge of the weak- 
ness of the British determined Clarke. To his ambitious 
mind it seemed that a continued war and a weak enemy 
presented an opportunity not to be neglected. Accord- 
ingly, while the feeble settlement of Kentucky were en- 
gaged in a life and death struggle with the enemy at their 
gates, Clarke determined to carry the war into the enemy's 
country. That the enemy could enter Kentucky as well 
as he could enter Illinois was a thought that apparently 
never entered his mind. That he might fail to conquer 
Illinois if he attempted it, or even when it was captured 
the Indians might insist on continuing their war against 
Kentucky, were thoughts that he apparently failed to 
entertain. No benefit could come to Kentucky save by a 
cessation of Indian attacks. But the prospect of Amer- 
ican neighboi's in Illinois was well calculated to enrage the 
Indians without serving to overawe them. Kentucky had 
nothing to gain from the project. It was for the benefit 
of Virginia. 

In December Clarke reached Williamsburg and laid his 
plan before Henry, the governor. Henry entered into the 
plans with the same enthusiasm he had displayed in con- 
fiscating Transylvania ; it was another opportunity for 
acquiring a goodly amount of territory without the incon- 
venience of paying for it. But as the success of the expe- 



28 Clarke's "Diary," May 18th. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 123 

dition would depend on the secrecy with which it was 
conducted, Henry decided not to communicate the plan 
to the Legislature where, as he knew, there was wont to be 
an enonnous output of the English language on very slight 
provocation. He called into his counsel Jefferson, Madi- 
son, Wythe and Mason, and discussed the plan of Clarke's 
until January. In making up their minds to aid Clarke, 
these worthy sons of Virginia were far from being actuated 
by any such abstract idea of safeguarding Kentucky. But 
the opportunity was come to put into effect Virginia's oft- 
repeated claim of sovereignty over all the northwest ter- 
ritory. It was not characteristic of Virginians to hesitate 
at such a time. 

The plan which Clarke's fertile mind had originated 
and which the Virginia statesmen had discussed in such 
detail was not concerned primarily with Detroit, but aimed 
at the conquest of the whole country between the Ohio and 
the Great Lakes. In this region the British held a number 
of posts recently taken from the French and serving as 
bases for dealing with the Indians. Of these the chief 
were Kaskaskia on the Mississippi and Vincennes on the 
Wabash. Cahokia, not far from Kaskaskia, was also an 
important stronghold. Clarke aimed specifically at Kas- 
kaskia ; his other operations were to be determined by for- 
tune. He wished, if possible, to get possession of Ham- 
ilton, whom he termed the "great hair buyer," and to 
capture Detroit if circumstances would allow. 

On January 2, 1778, he received from Henry two sets 
of instructions ^^ in regard to the expedition, and the next 
day a letter reached him from Jefferson, Wythe and Mason. 
Henry, in one set of instructions meant for public con- 



27 English, Life of Clarke, p. 95. 



124 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

sumption, addressed Clarke as lieutenant-colonel and au- 
thorized him to enlist seven companies of fifty men each 
from any part of Virginia. Said men were to serve three 
months and were to follow Clarke to Kentucky, where they 
should obey such orders and directions as he might give 
them. The second set of instructions was private and 
authorized Colonel Clarke to enlist seven companies of men 
for the purpose of marching against Kaskaskia. The 
letter from Jefferson, Wythe and Mason promised in the 
name of Virginia three hundred acres of land for each vol- 
unteer if the expedition should prove successful. 

Clarke's instructions called for three hundred and fifty 
men, and he set to work at once to raise the number. 
Captain W. B. Smith was sent to take charge of the enlist- 
ment of four companies in the Holstein settlement. Captain 
Leonard Helm was to raise a company in Fauquier County 
and Captain Joseph Bowman one in Frederick County. 
Clarke himself, aided by Captain William Harrod, took 
charge of the recruiting in the Monongahcla country. As 
is evident from the location of these men, the army was 
to be made up of men from the west of the Alleghanies. 
For whatever reason Tidewater Virginia was not to be a 
party to the undertaking. Clarke had fixed upon Red- 
stone^^ as the rendezvous for all the men save those re- 
cruited in the Holstein ; they were to meet him at the Falls 
of the Ohio.-^ Redstone on the Monongahela was in the 
territory then claimed by Virginia but later confirmed to 
Pennsylvania. None of the officers engaged in the recruit- 
ing or the men whom they were to enlist knew the real 
object of the movement; they thought, as Clarke pro- 
claimed, that the force was designed to protect Kentucky. 



28 Now Brownsville. 

29 Plrtle, Clarke's Campaign in the Illinois, p. 25. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 125 

In Clarke's private instructions he was ordered to apply 
to General Hand at Fort Pitt for powder and lead.^*^ He 
was given twelve hundred pounds in Virginia currency and 
was authorized to draw on Oliver Pollock, Virginia's agent 
in New Orleans, for whatever additional money he might 
need. As far as paper plans were concerned the expedi- 
tion was well contrived ; unforeseen obstacles soon began to 
present themselves. In the first place the Monongahelians 
obstinately refused to enlist ; Clarke's public instructions 
proved a source of embarrassment, inasmuch as the fron- 
tiersmen were not at all interested in Kentucky and would 
not enlist for the purpose of guarding her. The section 
was in a turmoil over the conflicting claims of Virginia and 
Pennsylvania, and this made recruiting difficult. Bowman 
and Helm each succeeded in raising a company, only to 
have most of them desert at the last moment. ^^ In thorough 
disgust Clarke set out for Redstone on the twelfth of May 
with what men he could secure — one hundred and fifty — 
divided into three companies. They were commanded by 
Bowman, Helm and Harrod. Some twenty families of 
emigrants accompanied the army, designing to settle in 
Kentucky. ^^ 

General Hand at Fort Pitt did all in his power to help 
the expedition. He furnished ammunition and supplies 
from his stores at that place and at Wheeling. Taking on 
these supplies, Clarke moved down the Ohio in rowboats 
for the Falls, where Captain Smith had written he would 
meet him with two hundred men. At Fort Randolph on 
the Kanawha he was joined by a company of men under 



30 Henry, Patrick Henry, Vol. I, pp. 603-605. 

31 Dillon, Indiana, p. 121. 

32 Southern Bivouac of January, 1884. 



126 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Captain James O'Hara,^^ bound for the Spanish settle- 
ment Ozark at the mouth of the Arkansas. Resisting the 
importunities of the garrison to join in the pursuit of a 
body of Indians who had just closed an unsuccessful attack 
on the fort, Clarke kept on his way until he reached the 
mouth of the Kentucky, where he soon learned on inquii-y 
that Captain Smith had not yet reached Kentucky. Only 
a few of his men under Captain Dillard had come, and 
Clarke, in order to secure others, wrote to John Bowman 
at Harrodstown to collect these men of Dillard's and with 
what others he was able to meet him at the Falls, where 
he intended to build a post.^* On the twenty-seventh of 
May he reached the Falls and landed his men on Corn 
Island (opposite Louisville) in order that he might more 
easily restrain his force from deserting when he disclosed 
his real destination as he intended to do here. 

Captain Bowman was not able to secure more than 
twenty Kentuckians to march to the Falls, and even this 
small number proved reluctant to accompany Clarke to 
Kaskaskia, when he finally made known to officers and men 
his real destination. The Holstein men went even further; 
the majority of Dillard's men, led by Lieutenant Hutchins, 
escaped the night before the day fixed upon for depar- 
ture.'^^ They were pursued by mounted men and overtaken 
twenty miles away on the road to Harrodstown. Seven 
were retaken, but the others escaped to Harrodstown, where, 
after some reluctance, they were received. There were left 
now on the island about one hundred and eighty men that 
were to compose the army. These were divided into four 



33 When Clarke stopped at the mouth of the Kentucky, O'Hara's 
company continued on down the river. 

31 Butler, Illstor!/ of Kentucky, p. 49. 

3r. Monnette, History of the Valley of the MississipTpi, Vol. I, 
p. 418 (note). 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 12T 

companies under Helm, Harrod, Bowman and Montgom- 
ery.^^ Having previously built a block house on the island, 
Clarke put in it a part of his supplies, left seven soldiers 
and ten families of the Redstone immigrants, and, with the 
little army, started down the Ohio, June 24th. ^^ 

On the twenty-eighth of June he landed his men on a 
small island in the mouth of the Tennessee River. From 
this point he intended to march overland to Kaskaskia. He 
had hardly landed before his soldiers fell in with a boat 
of hunters,^** who proved to have left Kaskaskia eight days 
before. Clarke administered the oath of allegiance and 
questioned them. They were Americans and asked permis- 
sion to go with him. Clarke gave it and engaged one of 
them to guide them to Kaskaskia. In the evening of this 
da}^ the force rowed ten miles down the river and landed 
about a mile above old Fort Massac ^^ on the Illinois side. 
Spending the night here and concealing their boats in a 
creek, they began on the morning of the twenty-ninth their 
journey of one hundred and forty miles to Kaskaskia. 

The progress and success of this expedition is only in- 
directly a part of Kentucky history ; its formation has 
deserved notice because of the popular fallacy that it was 
a Kentucky enterprise. Of the whole force of Clarke's 
men only twenty could be classed as Kentuckians. From 



36 Pirtle, Clarke's Campaign in the Illinois; Letter of G. R. Clarke, 
November 19, 1779. 

37 A total eclipse of the sun began as the boats entered the Rapids. 

38 These hunters were six in number and were under the leader- 
ship of John Duflf. The man taken for a guide was John Sanders. 

39 Fort Massac was on the north side of the Ohio, ten miles below 
the mouth of the Tennessee. Its official name given it by the French 
when they built it and who then occupied the valley of the Ohio was 
TAssomption. It was erected in 1756 (some writers claim it was only 
strengthened, and was built much earlier) to counteract the building 
by the English of Fort Loudon on the upper waters of the Ten- 
nessee. ... It was of course unoccupied at the date of Clarke's 
visit. — Butterfield, Clarke's Conquest of the Illinois, p. 591. 



128 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Booncsbo rough only Kenton and Haggin joined the enter- 
prise. Kentucky would have none of it. There was, in the 
first place, some little resentment felt against Clarke by 
those who felt that Henderson had been badly used. But 
perhaps the greater reason was that Kentucky and espe- 
cially Boonesborough was expecting an Indian invasion. 
It seemed to them the height of folly to invade another 
countr}^ while leaving their own defenseless against attack. 
Nor does it speak very well for the military genius of Clarke 
that at the very time when Kentucky needed all her re- 
sources he was engaged in an effort to enroll her militia for 
an external war. Surely it would have been better tactics 
to defeat the eneni}^ at the gates. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 129 



THE GREAT INVASION. 

TT WAS from tlie north that Kentucky was expecting the 
-'■ Indian attack. The Shawnese were again, as in the 
preceding year, planning destruction for the settlements. 
A lack of allies, intervening distance, and even a sense of 
honor held the Chcrokees in restraint ; Kentucky was never 
to suffer an attack from the south. From Detroit and her 
other Canadian posts England let no opportunity pass 
for arousing the Indians. One hundred dollars was the 
price paid for a prisoner; one-half that sum for a scalp. ^ 
The British agents had been active and successful. They 
were busy sending out officers among the Indians to reduce 
them to some discipline of war. Their trading posts 
throughout the north were become depots of supplies which 
the Indians were encouraged to rally around in order to 
receive provisions and to secure gifts. As for the Indians, 
they were well pleased with their new friends ; they were 
quick to pledge allegiance and to promise aid. England 
constantly kept the barbarian eye turned toward Kentucky 
and continually used her utmost arts to direct their anger 
thither. As an assistance for their raids there had been 
constructed on the Ohio River a regular ferryboat on 
which the Indians might pass from shore to shore. ^ The 
English honored the chiefs, armed the warriors and atten- 
tively cared for the interests of all. Yet, in the utilizing 
of the Indians against Kentucky, it must be conceded that 
England tried sincerely to mitigate the inhumanity of her 



1 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. IV, p. 170. 

2 It was made of buffalo hides attached to a framework. When 
not in use it was hidden along the bank. 



180 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

red allies. Stringent orders were given nnd resolute pre- 
caution were taken against the torturing of prisoners. The 
price of a prisoner was double that of a scalp. Nor did 
they fail in their humane efforts ; Indian warfare was more 
civilized in 1778 than in any previous year. Prisoners 
were more kindly treated and agreements were moi'e faith- 
fully observed. 

The British efforts towards arousing the Indians were 
powerfully seconded by colonial treachery. Of the two 
great Shawnese chieftains, Blackfish urged war and Corn- 
stalk consistently favored peace. In the autunm of 1777 
the latter, while on a friendly visit to Captain Arbuckle 
at Point Pleasant, was foully and treacherously murdered. 
The outraged Indians hastened to arms. They turned their 
rage first against Wheeling and only withdrew after losing 
one-fourth of their number. Enraged by their defeat, they 
prepared a new expedition, and this in the first days of 
1778 directed its march to Kentucky. There were one hun- 
dred and two men in the pai'ty, of whom two were Cana- 
dians, eighty Shawnese and the remainder ]Miamis. 

In the three settlements of Kentucky the pioneers were 
experiencing a scarcity of salt. It was their custom to 
make this from the various licks from time to time as a 
public enterprise ; but because of continuous Indian attacks 
in 1777, the supply was now running short. "^ Accordingly, 
a company of men was enrolled from the different posts 
for the purpose of visiting Lower Blue Licks and making 
salt there for the various garrisons. Boone was the hunter 
and guide for the company. They set out on New Year's 
Day and woi-ked in peace until the seventh of February. 
On that day Boone, while out hunting some distance awav. 



3 Filson, Autobiography of Boone, p. CO. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 131 

fell in with the previously mentioned band of Shawnese and 
Miamis on their way to Booncsborough.^ He was numbed 
by the cold and in no condition to fight, even had there 
been no disparity of numbers. He tried to escape by 
flight, but was soon captured. The Shawnese were more 
than pleased when they recognized their prisoner. They 
had known Boone ever since they had taken him and Stewart 
in central Kentucky. He was known to them personally 
and by reputation. But they were far from feeling toward 
him the animosity usually displayed to their white foes. 
Rather their feeling was one of admiration and even of 
affection. Boone held much the same place in their hearts 
as in the hearts of the schoolchildren of today ; he was their 
hero. History, in fact, has no stranger anomaly than the 
relations of Boone and the Shawnese. Year after year 
they fought as foes, but countless incidents show the good 
feeling existing between them ; for Boone had much the same 
feeling for the Shawnese as they had for himself. He felt 
entirely at home when chance threw him among them. He 
had a strong appreciation of their mode of life and differed 
from them only in color and disposition. So the Shawnese 
were in great glee at taking Boone, and Boone, knowing 
well their feeling toward himself, felt no fear of suffering 
any injury at their hands. 

The Indians, even before taking Boone, had discovered 
his companions at the lick, but had not molested them. 
They let themselves be cajoled by Boone into a promise 
of kind treatment if the men should surrender. This sur- 
render Boone undertook to bring about. He led the Indians 



4 Charles Beaubien and Pierre Lorimer were the Canadian lead- 
ers. They had raised the Miamis from their town on the Maumee 
and the Shawnese from Piqua and Chillicothe. Beaubien and Lorimer 
were "Indian officers" in the British service. 



182 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

to the lick, and, after .some argument, induced the men 
to give up tlieir arms on his personal assurance that they 
should not be harmed. The influence of Boone and the 
ameliorating effect of English orders is well shown by the 
fact that the Indians faithfully observed their promise. 
The red chieftains informed Boone that they were on their 
way to Boonesborough and would greatly appreciate any 
information he might give them relative to its strength. 
Boone, well knowing the defenseless condition at Boones- 
borough, solemnly asserted that the fort was impregnable 
to attack and a large garrison was constantly on guard 
and looking for these same invaders ; that because of his 
deep affection for his red brothers he would advise that the 
attack be postponed until another day. His red brothers, 
having some knowledge of their own, through their spies, 
in regard to the actual condition of things at Boones- 
borough, probabl}^ took Boone's statement Avith several 
grains of salt. They knew that the fort was unfinished and 
manned by a feeble garrison. But so pleased were they 
with Boone, whose imaginative faculty endeared him to his 
captors no less than did his prowess, that they determined 
to abandon the expedition and retrace their steps. ^ More- 
over, they saw in the ransom of the prisoners a rich oppor- 
tunity for securing much "firewater," the deep affection for 
which among the Shawnese is a strong indication of their 
having once been Kentuckians. 

Not all the men, however, had been made prisoners. 
Three of them had fortunately been dispatched to Boones- 
borough to carry in the salt they had made.^ After per- 
fonning their task they returned to the Licks to assist in 



B Beaubien and Lorimer both wanted to go on against Boones- 
borough. The former was so incensed at the action of tlie Indians 
that he shortly afterwards abandoned them and went to Detroit. 

8 Filson, Autobiography of Boone, p. 60. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 133 

the salt-making. They were not long in perceiving that 
misfortune had befallen the others, though whether impris- 
onment or death they were, of course, unable to judge. 
Hurrying back, they reported the news to the panic-stricken 
fort. Such a blow had never before been struck against 
Kentucky ; after the hostile encounters of the preceding 
year the pioneers had no hope that mercy would be shown 
to any one that fell into the hands of the Indians. The 
captives were given up for lost and their families mourned 
them as dead. An exodus began to Carolina and Virginia, 
and Boone's wife was in the departing number. The forts, 
and particularly Boonesborough, stood on guard con- 
tinually. Everyone waited in vain for the attack they knew 
to be inevitable. 

Meanwhile Boone and his companions were being con- 
ducted to Old Chillicothe. It was a three days' journey 
tliither and the weather was severe. Much suffering re- 
sulted both to captives and captors, but it is to the credit 
of the Indians that they did what they could to alleviate 
the pain of their prisoners. They shared with them their 
food and blankets. Indeed, they kept with scrupulous 
exactness their promise given to Boone that all should be 
treated well. This unusual conduct was probably caused 
as much by expectation of bounties as by any altruistic 
conception of honor. They remained at Old Chillicothe 
only for a short time. On the tenth of March Boone and 
ten others were sent on under the guard of forty Indians to 
Detroit. Here the ten were exchanged for the promised 
reward, but the Indians were firm in their refusal to part 
with Boone. It was in vain that Hamilton offered five 
times the usual ransom ; the Indians would not let him go 
on any terms. Nor did Boone himself display any great 
desire to be ransomed. He refused to countenance any of 



184 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

the numerous plans .su<^^osted b}' tlic English for his de- 
tention, and even refused the gifts of sonic articles of 
comfort pressed upon liini. In fact, Boone was in no 
hurry to give up his Indian life ; as long as peace obtained 
between them and his friends in Kentucky he was quite 
content to remain with them on equal terms. At Detroit 
the English seemed to place great confidence in him. 
Boone, on his part, conversed freely with the English in 
regard to Kentucky , telling them how the crops had been 
destroyed the previous year and that the settlements were 
in a bad wa}', with no hope of getting help from Con- 
gress.^ It is possible that he even promised to aid them 
in their plans against Kentucky. There is no reason to 
believe that Boone was doing more than exercising that 
talent of which he was very proud — the talent of "fooling" 
his enemies. But the British and even the Indians listened 
to his words as to Holy Writ. 

At length, heavy laden with "firewater" and other tan- 
gible proofs of British affection, the Indians set out on 
their return to Old Chillicothe. Boone, of course, accom- 
panied them. Arriving, the Indians, as a special mark of 
their affection, decided to admit Boone to membership in 
their tribe ; ^ he was to become the son of a chief .^ As a 
preliminary to entering into a relation so desirable it was 
necessary for Boone to take part in several ceremonies. 
He had to submit to having his hair plucked out by root ; 
only a small scalp lock on top was allowed to remain. The 
pain of this process was probably not lessened by the fact 
that it was done b}^ women. He was then led into the 



' Ilaldimand Paperii, Hamilton to Carleton, April 25, 1778. 
(Micliijran Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. IX, p. 435.) 

8 The sixteen companies of Boone were also adopted. 

9 Blackfish. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 135 

river and rubbed thoroughly to take out his wliite blood ; 
in all probability some of his blood was taken out in reality 
before the ceremony was finished. Then, dressed in Indian 
fashion with gay feathers in his scalp lock, he was taken 
into the council house and listened while the old men, as 
is the custom of old men, spoke eloquently of the golden 
opportunities before him. He was then given a coat of 
paint of many colors and given a huge banquet which, 
being somewhat unaccustomed to dog meat and similar 
delicacies, he probably found the most trying part of his 
initiation. Tlie Indians, with a grave sense of humor, 
named him the Big Turtle, a name probably called forth 
by the small height and comfortable girth of the new 
member. He was also presented with a dog and a squaw. 
Boone did not pretend, and there is no reason to be- 
lieve, that he disliked the life that followed. He was 
treated by the Indians as one of themselves and took part 
in all their activities. He was taken along on all hunting 
trips and quite won the heart of his father by keeping 
him supplied with meat. When he took part in their shoot- 
ing matches a delicate situation arose, inasmuch as he was 
obliged to shoot worse than his opponents in order not to 
arouse their jealous3^ This was a difficult task, as the 
Shawnese were notoriously poor marksmen and could 
rarely be trusted to hit anything smaller than the solar 
sj'stem. However, Boone so managed that he every day 
grew in favor with the Indians. The nominal guard that 
was at first kept over him was gradually relaxed until 
finally he was allowed to come and go as he pleased. Boone 
made no eflPorts to escape; he was unfeignedly enjoying 
himself. ]\Ioreover, he was probably somewhat diffident 
about exposing his scalp lock and other Indian acquisitions 
to the jests and jibes of his rough neighbors at home. The 



186 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

wandering Indians drifted in June toward the Scioto Salt 
Lick to lay in a supply of salt. Boone went along, and 
when he returned to Chillicothe was startled to find a large 
force of Indians painted and ready to march on Kentucky. 

Clearly this put a new light on things. Content to live 
and hunt with the Indians on friendly terms while Ken- 
tucky was at peace, the sturdy old pioneer could not re- 
main passive and see his old companions endangered. On 
the sixteenth of June he set out for his usual hunt and did 
not return. He made straight for Boonesborough, one 
hundred and sixty miles away. Fearing pursuit, he did 
not dare to stop to kill anything, and during the entire 
five days he was on the road he ate but one meal.^*^ He 
came to Boonesborough on the twentieth and was received 
as one from the dead. The pioneers had long since given 
him up as lost and were ovcrjoj^ed to find him alive. ^^ 

Boone's stay with the Shawnese was a powerful factor 
in preserving for so any months a peace between red men 
and white. The Indians could but know that a move on 
Kentucky would cause Boone to bring his Indian life to 
a speedy close ; and their hearts were set on keeping Boone. 
The latter, for his part, understood that the Indians would 
not seriously molest Kentucky while he was among them. 
This knowledge must have strongly inclined him to defer 
his escape and appear content with Indian ways. But 
Hamilton, in a great conference held with the Indians at 
Detroit in June, had, by dint of extraordinary efforts, in- 
duced the Indians to take the warpath. Evidently there 
were to be few moments of peace for Kentucky in the near 
future. 



10 He had brought this with him. 

11 Bradford, Notes on Kentucky, p. 31. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 137 

When Boone reached the fort he found it garrisoned by 
some sixty men, one-third of whom were unfit for fight- 
jjjg 12 rpjjg fort, despite a multitude of dangers, had never 
been finished. When Boone told his story the men began 
to apply themselves to bettering its condition and soon 
had it in good shape. Meanwhile the days wore on and no 
attack came. Several days after Boone there arrived at 
the fort a certain Stephen Hancock,^ ^ who had been sur- 
rendered at the Lower Blue Licks and had been living in 
captivity since. He reported that on account of Boone's 
escape the Shawnese had postponed the expedition against 
Kentucky for three weeks. Tliis was agreeable news to 
the Boonesborough men, but the remainder of his story 
was not so pleasant. He related how Boone while at De- 
troit had been on friendly temis with Governor Hamilton 
and had promised to deliver Boonesborough and its gar- 
rison into the hands of the British and Indians if oppor- 
tunity should arise. ^^ This story, undoubtedly true and 
not denied by Boone, was not long in causing a complete 
revulsion of feeling. Boone became no longer a popular 
hero, but a despised renegade. His old friend Calloway, 
now a colonel of militia, openly advocated that he be court- 
martialed and punished. The ambitious W. B. Smith 
came forward with the claim that he himself had been sub- 
stituted for both Calloway and Boone ^° in the command 
of the fort. Some of the garrison still clung to Boone, 
and were willing to believe his story that he had not in- 
tended to keep his promises to the British and Shawnese, 

12 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. IV, p. 217. 

13 Draper and Rancke agree that Hancock came after Boone. 
Trabue, a contemporary, says that Hancock came before Boone. It 
seems certain that the former view is the correct one. 

1* Autobiography of Daniel Trabue. 
IS Rancke, Boonesborough, p. 98. 



138 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

but was deliberately deceiving them. Affairs were in a 
most chaotic condition, but as time wore on Boone gradu- 
ally regained his old place in the esteem of the people. 

The three weeks mentioned by Hancock were passed 
and still no sight of the enemy. Boone urged that a coun- 
ter expedition be sent against the Shawnese town of Paint 
Lick near the Scioto. The wary old hunter had ascer- 
tained that Indian spies were lurking around the settle- 
ments, and he well knew the trouble such a thing portended. 
He hoped by his expedition northward to obtain full 
knowledge of what the Indians intended to do. The plan 
for a foray into ShaMuese territory was strenuously op- 
posed by Calloway,^'"' tlic ranking officer in the little gar- 
rison. But military forms set lightly on the Kentuckians 
and on the first of August Boone, at the head of nineteen 
men, set out for the Ohio. Among the number was Kenton, 
who had accompanied Clarke to Kaskaskia and had come 
back to Harrodstown with dispatches. He served as a 
scout for the company. When but a few miles from their 
destination Kenton saw two Indians on one horse riding 
along in great glee. Now Kenton enjo^^ed taking a scalp 
as much as did the fiercest Wyandot. So, reckless of 
alarm, he fired and both Indians fell. Kenton ran forward 
for the much coveted scalp, and while engaged in that 
lawful industry, suddenly found himself surrounded by 
Indians. Fortunately his companions had heard the firing 
and hurried up in time to relieve him of a situation that 
was fast growing embarrassing. After this Kenton and 
INIontgomer}', reconnoitering, found the Indian village de- 
serted. Boone interpreted this to mean that the inhabi- 
tants had joined the Indian expedition to Kentucky; he 



^''> Avtobioyraphy of Daniel Trobue. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 139 

straightway changed his course and hastened with all pos- 
sible speed back to Boonesborough. Finding the enemy's 
trail, he cautiously followed it, and, passing them in 
the night, he arrived safe at the fort on the seventh of 
August. ^^ 

On the eighth the Indians appeared. They numbered 
nearly three hundred men. Of these ten were Canadians, 
and the whole force was under the command of Fontenoy 
de Quindre, an "Indian officer" in the British service. ^^ 
English and French colors were flying over this motley 
force, and the Indians were painted in all the colors of 
war. The army, for it deserved the name, had crossed the 
Ohio at Limestone Creek and had penetrated into central 
Kentucky by way of the Lower Blue Lick. They ap- 
proached the fort from the north and crossed the Ken- 
tucky at the ford a little below the town. Then, without 
any haste and without the slightest effort at concealment, 
they moved around and took up their position on the south 
of the fort and near the hills. From the time they crossed 
the river the garrison had been watching their movements 
in silence. Not a shot was fired on either side ; the gar- 
rison was so weak that it Avas absolutely necessary to save 
their ammunition, and the Indians were hoping to get 
possession of the fort by peaceful methods. They were 
still strong in their faith in Boone and heartily believed 
that he would surrender the fort to them at the earliest 
opportunity. Blackfish and Moluntha ^^ were present in 

17 Kenton and Montgomery stayed behind for a last shot at 'ftie 
Indians, and when they finally reached the fort they found them- 
selves locked out. 

18 It must not be forgotten that these "Indian ofBcers" were white 
men and were so called because they always commanded Indian 
troops. lAke De Quindre, they were usually French. 

19 Blackhoof, soon to be a renowned chief, was also present. 



140 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

command of the Sliawncse ; it will be remembered that the 
former was the adopted "father" of Boone. 

The first move on the part of the Indians was to request 
a parley with Boone. For this purpose they sent a negro 
slave "^ named Pompey to the fort to ask for him. Pompey 
went to within one hundred and fifty yards of the fort 
and, mounting a stump, yelled "hello." Although the 
men within the fort well knew what he wanted, no answer 
was made until he had repeated his summons several times. 
Then Boone condescended to look over thfc palisade and 
asked him what he wished. Thereupon Pompey delivered 
his message that the Indians wanted to have a conference 
with the chief men of the fort. They had sent word that 
if Boone would come out they would not hurt him. When 
Boone reported this message to the men within, there was 
much division of opinion in regard to the advisability of 
the conference. Boone put an end to the hesitation by 
declaring his purpose to go. He went confidently out 
from the fort to the place where Pompey was standing. 
The latter spread an Indian blanket on the ground ^^ and 
Boone sat down on it, surrounded by the Indians who had 
now come up. To the Indian demand for a surrender he 
replied, as was the fact, that he was no longer the com- 
mander. He asked for time to consult the commanders, 
and it was given him. In the second conference he was 
accompanied by Calloway and Smith,"' while the Indians 
were represented by De Quindre, Blackfish and Moluntha. 



20 Other authorities say that the request was delivered by two 
Canadians. McAfee in his Life and Timen, gives the incident as above. 

21 Shane MS8., Vol. I, p. 40. 

22 Sinith was dressed with a view to impress the Indijins. He 
wore a macaroni hat with a long ostrich feather in it and had also 
arrayed himself in a red coat. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 141 

The meeting between Boone and his "fatlier" must have 
been an embarrassing one. Blackfish reproached Boone 
with running away and charged him with kilHng his son 
across the Ohio a few days before. Boone answered that 
he had not even been there. The settlers were urged to 
surrender, Blackfish saying he had brought along forty 
pack horses in order to carry them off easily. This offer 
seems to have been made by the Indians in good faith and 
as a result of a suggestion made by Boone while he was 
living a captive among them. The Indians were also un- 
doubtedly sincere in their promises to carry the garrison 
off without injury. These facts were Avell understood by 
Boone, and so, either in jest or sincerity, he affected to 
be well pleased with the proposition. He asked, however, 
for two days for consideration, saying that it was neces- 
sary to consult the men within the fort. This request was 
promptly granted and the conference came to an end. 

When Boone returned to the fort and related to the 
garrison what had been said in the conference, their de- 
cision was unanimous against surrender. They had no 
such confidence in Indian promises as Boone had. Feeble 
as was the fort, they far preferred the chances of war to 
those of captivity. They decided, however, to defer their 
answer for the full two days, and in the meantime to 
strengthen their position in every way possible. There- 
upon was to be seen a spectacle unique in Indian warfare. 
While three hundred warriors were encamped in easy rifle 
shot, the pioneers went leisurely out and drove in their 
cattle without the slightest molestation. The men went 
freely about their work repairing the fort and making 
firm its gates, while the painted savages sauntered curiously 
around or looked on indiffcrentlv- The Indians, in fact, 



142 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

liad no thought but that Boone would surrender the fort; 
tlie}' could not bring themselves to believe that the Big 
Turtle would turn against his adopted people. Moreover, 
they were greatly in earnest in wanting to take all the 
people prisoners ; they wanted the promised bounty. But 
at the end of the allotted time Boone gave his answer that 
the garrison was unwilling to surrender and was determined 
to defend itself to the utmost.-^ To say that the Indians 
were chagrined at this would be putting it mildly. They 
saw their bounty money slipping away from them and 
their hopes fast fading of regaining Boone. To com- 
mence hostilities would be to lose all ; they asked for 
another conference, repeating that they had instructions 
from Hamilton not to hurt the men, but to take them pris- 
oners. They proposed that nine representative men from 
the fort should meet De Quindre and the Indian chiefs at 
the springs some sixty yards from the fort to discuss terms. 
They gave the usual promises of protection to the envoys 
from the fort. 

When Boone reported this proposal to the men, an 
altercation arose that well-nigh came to bloodshed. Cal- 
loway opposed it with all his power as a fool-hardy adven- 
ture. He was becoming more and more suspicious of 
Boone's loyalty and feared treachery if they should go 
outside the fort. Boone for liis part urged that the con- 



23 Boone's answer as recorded by Filson has quite a different 
sound from that with which McAfee credits him. The latter rep- 
resents him as saying that all but a few were ready to surrender, 
and that he would try further to influence them. McAfee says that 
Boone went alone to the Indian camj), and while there arranged for 
the meeting at the springs. The truth probably is that a great many 
conferences were held with the Indians on this subject l)efore the 
details were arranged. Boone's conduct during the siege later became 
a matter of much controversy, and in all probability the reports even 
of the eyewitnesses were colored by their personal feelings toward 
the old pioneer. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 143 

ference ^^ be held, if for no other reason than to gain time. 
After a violent dispute, Boone prevailed, and it was de- 
cided to hold the conference. Daniel and Squire Boone, 
Richard and Flanders Calloway, W. B. Smith, Stephen 
and William Hancock and William Buchanan Avcre chosen 
to represent the fort.^^ Calloway, though going to the 
conference, had lost none of his suspicions ; he ordered the 
garrison to keep the guns trained on the Indians' repre- 
sentatives ^^ and to be ready to fire at the first indication 
of violence. He also told the women of the fort to put 
on men's clothing and show themselves above the ramparts 
so as to make the Indians believe there was a large gar- 
rison within. Whether or not the Indians were impressed 
by this ruse is nowhere recorded. The treaty began on 
the morning of the tenth and lasted all day. While it 
was in progress the actions of both parties were of the 
friendliest. If the Indians meant treachery, no indication 
of it came to light. Squire Boone took occasion to inform 
some of the Indians that a huge army under Clarke was on 
the way from Virginia to relieve the fort. As the Indians 
knew that Clarke was in Illinois, they must have had, if 
they believed the story, a highly complimentary notion of 
that worthy's ubiquity. During the conference Blackfish 
wandered around the fort and surveyed it leisurely and 
curiously. Finally the treaty was arranged to be signed 
the next morning and the commissioners withdrew. Just 
what the provisions of this strange treaty were is not fully 
known. It, at least, made provision for annexing Boones- 



24 If, as Filson says, Boone had given so defiant an answer such 
a little while before, it is difficult to account for his attitude at this 
time. The McAfee account here is in aU probability the true one. 

25 Rancke, Boonesborough, p. 87. 

26 Shane M8S., Vol. II, p. 75. There were eighteen Indians at the 
conference. 



144 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

borough to the dominions of his most Gracious Majesty 
and provided that the garrison should take tiie oath of 
allegiance to liini and become British subjects.^" The next 
morning Boone, accompanied by five of the representatives, 
repaired to the meeting place to sign the treaty. As they 
drew near the place Boone noticed that the trusted chiefs 
of the day before had been replaced by strange warriors. 
He spoke of it to Blackfish, onl}' to meet with a denial. 
Nothing happened amiss, however, and the treaty was 
signed by both parties. Then the Indians offered their 
hands in token of amity, and the white men gladly received 
them. However, as the Indians far outnumbered the 
whites, and they all insisted on shaking hands, it resulted 
in each of the white men being grasped by two or more 
Indians. So far there had been no signs of treachery. 
But Callowa}', not liking the looks of things, jerked away 
from the detaining hands and ran for the fort.^^ The 
others did likewise, and a "dreadful scuffle" ensued, the 
Indians making great efforts to hold Boone. When the 
garrison saw the disorder, they lost no time in firing on 
the Indians, and the fire was returned by a party of con- 
cealed warriors. Thus exposed to two fires, the treaty- 
makers hurried to the fort and succeeded in reaching it 
with no one wounded except Squire Boone. ^^ Whether this 
was due to the amazingly poor marksmanship of the In- 
dians or to their reluctance to harm their prospective 
prisoners docs not appear. 



27 Draper, MSS. Life of Boone, Vol. IV, p. 224. 

28 Another tradition gives John South as the first man to break 
away. 

28 One commissioner was unable to reach the fort and was com- 
pelled to remain hidden behind a stump until the darkness made it 
possible for the garrison to let him inside. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 145 

It is by no means settled that the Indians were acting 
in bad faith in taking the hands of the white men. Rather 
is it to be believed that the lamentable outcome was a result 
of the panic on the part of Colonel Calloway. He was 
constantly expecting treachery from the Indians and 
would be quick to take alarm at a situation such as this. 
On the other hand, there were many reasons to believe that 
the Indians were sincere. If they had meditated treachery, 
they had had several, and better, opportunities before. 
Only the day before they had had nine men in their power 
and did not offer to molest them. They had not attempted 
violence at their first conference. They had allowed the 
settlers, on several occasions, to drive their cattle into the 
fort and, finally, they could but know that they were 
under the rifles of the garrison and that any violence on 
their part meant death to themselves. From these consid- 
erations, it remains at least an open question whether the 
trouble at the spring was due to treachery on the part of 
the Indians or a panic on the part of the white men. 

Whatever had been the nature of the Indians' former 
actions, there could be no doubt about their hostility from 
this time forward. Having secreted a chosen band near 
the Kentucky River, the others broke up camp in wild 
confusion and ostentatiously pretended to retreat, evi- 
dently hoping that the garrison would come out and 
pursue.^*' This, however, was the one thing above all 
others that the men would not do. They suspected a trap 
and held themselves steadily in the fort. Then the Indians 
returned and began a fierce attack, which they kept up 
almost without cessation for nine davs.^^ The fire of the 



30 McAfee, Life and Times. 

31 Indian sharpshooters on several occasions fired into the fort 
from the hills behind and those across the river. Shane M8S., Vol. I, 
p. 44. 



146 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Indians was, however, of little effect and that of the gar- 
rison seems to have been but little better. Not content 
with rifle fire, the garrison brought out a wooden cannon 
bound around with a wagon tire and prepared to use it. 
They loaded it with twenty or thirt^^-ounce balls and fired 
at a group of Indians. ^^ So great a terror was inspired 
in the Indians that it was fired again. But this time it 
burst and the loud report so alarmed the Indians that they 
"skampered perdidiously" and did not dare during the 
remainder of the siege to gather together in groups.^^ 
Oftentimes the Indians would taunt the garrison and defy 
them to shoot their big gun again ; to this the usual reply 
was that it was not worth while to shoot it at single Indians. 
Great efforts were made b}' the Indians to undermine the 
fort. They began digging under the river bank and 
mined to within fifteen or twenty steps of the fort. The 
mines approached so nearly that the white men and the 
Indians could hear each other digging. When the Indians 
had mined close to the fort they made constant efforts to 
throw torches and firebrands on the roofs of the cabins. ^^ 
Fortunately, however, there had been heavy rains ^^ for 
several days and no damage was done, as the roofs were 
too damp to ignite. The constant raining made mining 
a very disagreeable business, and the Indians, tiring, aban- 
doned it. There was the additional reason that they feared 
lest the pioneers might place their cannon in the counter- 
mine and fire through the thin intervening walls. Finally? 



^"^Autobiography of Daniel Trabtie. 

33 Squire Boone before the siege liad made two of these rude 
swivels, but one had already burst. Shane MSS., Vol. I, p. 40. 

34 At one time the house formerly occupied by Henderson was set 
on fire, but tlie blaze was extinguished by knocking off the shingles. 

ss The accoimts of both McAfee and Trabue make it plain that if 
it had not been for the opportune rains the garrison would have been 
compelled to surrender. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 147 

fully disheartened, the entire force, on the twentieth of 
August, after destroying all the property they could find 
exposed, raised the siege and began a retreat. Weakness 
and fear of treachery prevented the garrison from pur- 
suing. As an evidence of poor marksmanship and an over- 
abundant supply of ammunition, the settlers, after the 
siege, picked up some one hundred and twenty-five pounds 
of bullets near the fort. The garrison had lost but two 
killed and four wounded ; the Indians had two killed and 
three wounded. ^^ 

Only a few days after the raising of the siege a com- 
pany of eighty men came into the fort from the Holstein 
settlements. •''' No attempt at resistance was made either 
from Harrodstown or Logan's during the siege. The 
former, in fact, was wholly ignorant that the fort was 
being besieged. They did not learn of it at all till after 
the siege had been raised when, surprised because they had 
received no communication from Boonesborough for so 
long a time, they sent messengers to see what was wrong, 
and only then learned of the peril through which the fort 
had lately passed. Logan's had been expecting a siege 
the same time as Boonesborough, but though the Indians 
appeared around the fort, killing and driving off the 
cattle, no actual attack occurred. Small as their own gar- 
rison ^^ was, they had sent men to Boonesborough when 



36 Butterfield, Clarke's Conquest of the Illinois, p. 199. It is 
impossible to reconcile the Indian account of their losses with that 
usually given by the Kentucky historians. Butterfield's statement 
is derived from the Haldimand Papers and is undoubtedly correct. 
As a rule the Indian officers were very accurate in reporting their 
losses — and gains — to the Canadian headquarters. Among the Indian 
dead was the negro slave Pompey. 

37 Rancke, Boonesborough, p. 104. 

38 McAfee, Sketches of the First Settlements in Kentucky. There 
were twenty-four men at Logan's. Logan himself went to the lick 
to drive in the cattle and was gravely wounded by the lurking Indians. 



148 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

they heard tliat it was threatened, and for this reason the 
fort could possibly have been taken had the Indians at- 
tacked it in force. After the Indians had withdrawn from 
before their own walls, they feared attack from those before 
Boonesborough.^'^ On one occasion, when the feeble gar- 
rison was anxiously manning the walls, they saw a con- 
siderable force approaching from the direction of Boones- 
borough, and they hastened to prepare themselves for the 
expected attack. Logan was confined to his bed by 
wounds and the garrison was almost exhausted.^^ But the 
approaching force ^^ proved to be their own men returned 
from the siege of Booncsborough, and as soon as they were 
recognized, both sides gave themselves up to the wildest 
rejoicing. 

The aftermath of the siege of Booncsborough is worthy 
of record. The feeling against Boone for his promises to 
the British and Indians and for his conduct during the 
siege was bitter, and particularly so on the part of Cal- 
loway. ■*- A meeting of the militia officers w-as called at 
Logan's, where Logan was confined by his wounds, and 
Boone was court-martialed for treason. Calloway charged 
that at Lower Blue Licks Boone had been found hunting 
ten miles away from his companions and that he had sur- 
rendered them unnecessarily and against their will. He 



30 Autobioffrnph}! of Daniel Trahne. 

40 During this trouble the garrison had built a tunnel of some 
length from the fort to the spring outside. A messenger, Martin, was 
despatched to the Holstein for help. 

41 These men, as well as a few from Harrodstown, had been sent 
to Boonesborough when the siege was expected. They remained 
within the fort throughout the siege. A Boonesborough hunter, Pat- 
ton, caught outside the fort by the coming of the Indians, lingered 
near until at the final assault, thinking the fort captured, he bore 
the news to Logan's. Clarke MSS., Vol. XXVI. 

••2 Flanders Calloway had married the daughter of Boone, and 
there were probably family reasons for the bad feeling between the 
Boones and Calloways. Shane MSS., Vol. I, p. 27. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 149 

further charged that Boone had entered into treasonable 
agreements with Hamilton for the surrender of the Ken- 
tucky settlements. Boone, in answer, justified his conduct 
at the Lower Blue Licks and affirmed that, in making such 
promises to the British at Detroit, he had only meant to 
deceive them. The court adopted Boone's side of the 
question and gave him an honorable acquittal. He shortly 
became a major in the militia. Calloway and Logan were 
greatly displeased with the verdict, but it was a popular 
one with the people. Boone soon returned to North Caro- 
lina, whither his family had gone after his capture by the 
Indians. He did not return until the fall of 1779.'*^ 

The latter half of the year 1778 was much quieter than 
the first. Although straggling bodies of Indians made 
desultory attacks around the forts, there was no longer 
any great peril. In September a party of white men going 
from Harrodstown to Logan's was fired upon, but no 
damage was done. A corn-shelling party sent out from 
Harrodstown under Colonel Bowman fared somewhat 
worse; fired upon from a canebrake, they lost seven men 
before driving off their assailants. Calloway went to Vir- 
ginia the last of the year and brought back a great supply 
of ammunition, conveying it over the long road on some 
forty pack horses. 

There came in November a melancholy suggestion of 
Transylvania in an act of the Virginia Legislature relating 
to Richard Henderson and his associates. An act Avas 
passed formally annulling their purchase from the Chero- 
kees, but giving them two hundred thousand acres of land 
at the mouth of Green River. In the troubled times of the 
last two years Transylvania had almost passed out of 
memory in Kentucky. 



43 Thwaites, Life of Boone, p. 167. 



160 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 



GROWTH AND EXPANSION. 

TT 7"HILE Booncsborough and the other Kentucky sct- 
' ' tlements were fighting the Indians hand to hand, 
Colonel George Rogers Clarke, several hundred miles away 
from the danger zone, was waging a bloodless warfare 
against a somnolent enemy. ^ Kaskaskia capitulated with 
a readiness highly suggestive that its submission at that 
time was caused only by a lack of earlier opportunity. 
Sixty miles up the Mississippi the inhabitants of Caliokia, 
influenced by tlic entreaties of their friends at Kaskaskia, 
surrendered without a struggle to a small force under 
Captain Bowman, sent from the latter fort. Here, as at 
Kaskaskia, no casualties resulted unless, perhaps, to the 
vocabulary of the excitable Frencli. Kaskaskia submitted 
to a regiment ; Cahokia, to a company ; Vinccnnes, to a 
priest. The absence of a commander, the influence of 
Father Gibault and the indiff'erence of the inhabitants 
brought about the surrender of Vinccnnes entirely un- 
menaced by arms. This succession of triumphs was rudely 
and ingloriously broken when Governor Hamilton moved 
down from Detroit and retook Vinccnnes. There being no 
alternative but to capture or be captured, Clarke promptly 
moved to the lately lost fort and, after terrible privations, 
reached, surprised and captured it. The "great hair 
buyer" himself was sent a captive to Virginia as a concrete 
testimonial to the activity of Clarke's army. Clarke, after 
a campaign of less than one year, held the Illinois coun- 
try and looked with covetous eyes toward Detroit. 



1 Butterfield, Clarke's Conquest of the Illinois. Passim. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 151 

Before setting out for Vincennes, Clarke had reorgan- 
ized his little army and sent, under Captain Linn, back 
to Kentucky such of his militia as did not care to re-en- 
list. Linn was instructed to return to the Falls and erect 
there a fort with whatever men he could induce to stay. 
A stockade had been built there on Com Island by Clarke 
himself the preceding spring ; this stockade, to which a 
few families were still clinging, was removed to the main- 
land, enlarged and called Fort Nelson at first, but later 
grew into the city of Louisville. Fort Nelson quickly be- 
came a position of importance.^ There were now four 
posts in the Kentucky country sufficiently strong to resist 
Indian attack : Harrodstown, Logan's, Boonesborough and 
Fort Nelson became centers of population and cities of 
refuge. To these four places the settlers fled in times of 
danger and from them in peaceful times they went forth 
to establish new forts or reoccupy the old. From Fort 
Nelson, in the spring of 1779, there went out colonies to 
establish forts and stations in the vicinity. On Beargrass 
Creek, ten miles from the Falls, they located Lynn's Sta- 
tion ; Brashear's Station was placed at Floyd's Fork and 
Sullivan's, only five miles from the Falls. 

Harrodstown was also expanding. A company, headed 
by Robert Patterson, founded and named Lexington, and 
Isaac Ruddle led a party to Hinkston's old settlement on 
the Licking and built the ill-fated station that bore his 
name. Martin's was erected in the same neighborhood. 
Grant's and Todd's were weak stockades abandoned before 
a year. From Saint Asaph were established Whitley's, 
Worthington's, Field's and Pittman's. From Boones- 
borough, Floyd settled on the Beargrass and Squire Boone 



2 For a description of the fort, see R. T. Durrett in the Courier- 
Journal of August 2, 1883. It contained fifty-two cabins. 



162 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

near by on Clear Creek ; Strode settled across the river 
from Boonesborough in what was later Clarke County. 
One or two important stations were built by parties from 
across the mountains. The most noted of these was Bry- 
ant's, a little northeast of Lexington. It was settled 
mainly by North Carolinians, and there were two brothers- 
i-n-law of Boone among its founders. The McAfees re- 
turned from Virginia and reoccupied their old cabins on 
Salt River. 

The establishment of so many new stations indicated a 
rapidly increasing population. The number of inhabi- 
tants was, in fact, growing daily. The report of Clarke's 
success in the Illinois country was being spread abroad in 
the backwoods of Virginia and North Carolina, and the 
frontiersmen, having long desired to move into Kentucky, 
easily satisfied themselves that henceforth life there would 
not be imperiled by Indian war. How vain was this re- 
flection the events of a few years made greatly evident. 
But for a time the people rushed into Kentucky. The 
country that only a few months before had excelled a 
wilderness only by three forts, began to take on the aspect 
of a settled country. Stockades sprang into existence in 
the midst of the forests and the land was fast being cleared 
for the crops of corn. All central Kentucky, both north 
and south of the river, was dotted with stations. Ruddle's 
on the north. Fort Nelson and McAfee's on the west, and 
the mountains on the south marked the limits of the new 
domain. So many stations were built, so great was the 
immigration and so safe seemed the country from all foea 
that before the ^^ear was out Virginia dismissed her militia, 
locked up the commissaries and left Kentucky to shift for 
herself.^ 



3 Autobiography of Daniel Trabue in Draper MSS. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 153 

The year 1779 is a notable one in Kentucky history 
in one respect: it was the first time the white men at- 
tempted to take the offensive against the Indians. The 
marauding bands that beset the Wilderness Road and the 
banks of the Ohio did a profitable business at the expense 
of the immigrants to Kentucky. They were persistent 
enough to annoy, while not strong enough to imperil, the 
settlements. A more patient people than the Kentuckians 
would have grown restive under continual worry. When 
the}' decided to take revenge they were at no loss where 
to look for the foe ; no other than a Shawnee would wage 
such a war. The invasion of the preceding year was also 
a bitter memory. The military authorities decided to 
carry the war to the enemy. 

The objective jjoint was Old Chillicothe on the Little 
Miami, some sixty miles from the Ohio. Colonel John 
Bowman, the county-lieutenant, took the initiative by 
notifying the settlers that immediately after they had fin- 
ished planting their corn they should rendezvous at the 
mouth of the Licking for an expedition northward. This 
particular time was selected for the expedition because 
there were present in Kentucky then some seventy men 
from the Monongahela country', and it had been ascer- 
tained that their aid could be secured for the attempt. 
These men had been in Kentucky prospecting for land 
and were now on the point of returning home. Captain 
Harrod undertook the task of recruiting them at Fort 
Nelson and leading them to the appointed rendezvous. 
The Boonesborough contingent, consisting of twenty or 
twenty-five men, was led by Captain John Holder. Those 
of Saint Asaph and vicinity were under the command of 
Logan, who was Bowman's chief lieutenant. Levi Todd 
headed a company I'ecruited from Bryant's and Lexing- 



154 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

ton ; Lieutenant Haggln commanded tlie little band from 
Martin's and Ruddle's, while the McAfee and Harrodstown 
men were led by Captain Harlan. Bowman, by virtue of 
his commission as county-lieutenant, was the commander- 
in-chief of the little army, with Logan second in com^ 
mand, and INIajor Bedinger, adjutant and quartermaster. 
After crossing the Ohio the army marched in three divi- 
sions under Logan, Holder and Harrod. The Indians' 
trail was found opposite the mouth of the Licking, and, 
advancing cautiously', the expedition arrived at Chilli- 
cothe undetected. 

The progress so far was clear and decisive; from this 
time forward it was confusion worse confounded. It is, 
in fact, a great tribute to the capacity for confusion 
shown by the historians of Kentucky to be able to admit 
that their accounts of the battle are more obscure than 
the battle itself. It is comparatively certain that the 
army reached the Indian town about dark, and, finding 
the Indians unsuspecting, determined to attack at day- 
break.^ Logan, with one-third the force, moved to the 
left to encircle the town, and Harrod with his division 
passed to the right; Holder remained in front. A pre- 
mature shot from one of Holder's men disclosed the pres- 
ence of tlie white men and the battle began in confusion. 
The Indians collected in a big cabin near the center of the 
town, and the white men, taking possession of the other 
cabins, pushed forward till they were within seventy 
yards of the Indians' position. Here they were held de- 
terminedly at bay. The fighting continued until ten 
o'clock, by which time the white men had lost nine men, 
had burned from twenty to forty cabins and had stolen, 



* Bradford, Notes on Kentucky, p. 46. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 155 

or regained, one hundred and foi't3f-three horses. But the 
Indians, far outnumbering them, began to employ flank 
movements that promised to result in the speedy destruc- 
tion of the Kentuckians. All this time, Logan and Holder 
had been fighting hard and waiting for the expected aid 
from Harrod's Monongahelians. But the Monongahelians 
refused all obedience and gave themselves up to plunder- 
ing the camp ; they could not be induced to go to the aid 
of the hard-pressed Kentuckians. Bowman, seeing that 
the Kentuckians were in danger of being surrounded, and 
not being able to compel or persuade the Monongahelians 
to advance, ordered a retreat. The order came as a com- 
plete surprise to Holder and Logan, who knew nothing 
of the conduct of the Monongahelians and were under the 
impression that everything was going favorably to the 
white men ; nevertheless, they obeyed. The retreat began 
in good order, with the men falling back slowly and de- 
liberately. The Indians at first were too much relieved 
to press the pursuit, but recovering their spirits after the 
Kentuckians had gone some ten miles, they rushed furi- 
ously against the retreating column and poured in a rapid 
and misdirected fire. The officers, in the face of a grow- 
ing panic formed their men in a hollow square and stood 
at bay. But the Indians wisely refused to come to close 
quarters, and the white men were compelled again to 
retreat. The renowned Blackfish had fallen and Red 
Hawk led the warriors.^ He persisted in the policy of 
hanging on the rear of the Kentuckians and continually 
hampering the retreat. These galling tactics would have 
ultimately resulted in the destruction of the invading force 
but for a bold expedient of the officers ; Logan, Harrod 

6 Red Hawk was also killed in the course of the day. 



156 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

and Bcdinf]for headed a cavalry charge that scattered the 
Indians and rendered safe the remainder of the retreat/' 
The force crossed the Ohio and dispersed to their homes. 
No loss of any moment was received on this expedition, 
and the Indians suffered far more than the white men. 
But the moral effect of the retreat was incalculable. It 
was the first attempt Kentucky had made to invade the 
enemy's country, and, notwithstanding the damage done 
to the enemy, the enforced retreat gave it all the appear- 
ance of a defeat. And as a defeat it was considered by 
the settlers themselves ; they could only see, as a recent 
historian has put it, that Blackfish had "smitten them hip 
and thigh." In their resentment they looked around for 
a scapegoat among their officers, and finally fixed on Bow- 
man to fill the position. The story was put in circulation 
that Bowman failed to support Logan in the battle, had 
remained inactive while it was fought and had ordered a 
retreat at the moment of victory.^ This delectable bit 
of mythology does as little credit to the intelligence of its 
fabricators as to that of the historians who accepted and 
recorded it. Bowmen was an old and tried Indian fighter; 
he had come to Kentucky as a leader of the ^'irginia 
militia and had proved himself in many an engagement 
since. No one was less likely to remain inactive during the 
battle than he. In regard to the retreat, an analysis of 
the battle will plainly show that it was a choice between 
retreat or annihilation, and Bowman wisely decided upon 
retreating. The credit of the defeat may be given to the 



6 Bedinger MSS., pp. 19-30. 

7 Historians have as a rule followed McClung's "Sketches" in 
recording the battle. The character of these sketches is such as to 
justify no one in following them unless confirmed by other authori- 
ties. Such an agreement, however, would rather tend to discredit 
the authorities than to confirm McClung. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 157 

seventy INIonongahelians who refused to obey Bowman's 
order to advance. Logan's impetuosity in the early part 
of the battle had carried him into a perilous situation, but 
his lack of judgment then was lost sight of in the remem- 
brance of his heroic conduct during the retreat. Unjustly, 
but verj'^ effectively, public opinion enforced the retire- 
ment of Bowman, who was, after all, but an "outlander.'* 
Logan's reputation was not injured by the failure. 

Notwithstanding Bowman's defeat, the immigration to 
Kentucky continued as rapidly as before. The Indians, 
indeed, had been too severely crippled to send any con- 
siderable force into the country ; only small parties con- 
tinued to infest the roads and cut off the people as they 
came in.'^ There were many isolated conflicts with these 
during the year, but none of enough moment to merit 
narration. But a far worse foe than the Indians was now 
to be encountered ; it was the terrible winter of 1779. This 
was the longest and coldest winter that the Kentuckians 
had ever experienced.^ It began the first of November 
and continued until February 20th. During all that time 
the ground was covered with snow and ice several feet 
deep, and the rivers were frozen solid to the very bottom. 
The brute life of the land was practically exterminated, 
and only a few of the domestic animals lived through the 
winter. Men and women died by the score for want of 
food, and the survivors were reduced to the extremity of 
eating the horses and dogs that had perished from hunger. 
The population of Kentucky at this time was for the most 
part living in isolated cabins, and communication was dif- 
ficult. The commonest articles of food could be secured 



8 Notwithstanding the destruction of the com, it grew again into 
a good crop. Statement of Joseph Jackson, Boone MSS., Vol. XI. 

9 Autobiograiihy of Daniel Trabue. 



168 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

onl}' at enormous prices. The bitter winter affected the 
incoming settlers most cruelly of all. Traveling was re- 
duced to two or three miles a day, and many parties were 
unable to pass the mountains and were forced to spend the 
winter in camp.^^ 

The Virginia Assembly in its May session had passed 
several acts that were of importance to Kentucky. One of 
these acts provided for a ferry over the Kentucky River. ^^ 
It was to be established at Booncsborough and was put 
under the cliarge of Richard Callowa}'. The provision for 
this ferry, although insignificant in itself, is of importance 
as showing the drift of settlers to the north of the Ken- 
tucky and the gradual settling of the land. It was prob- 
ably the first public ferry west of the Alleghanies. The 
same Assembly had passed an act establishing a pack horse 
road to Kentucky by way of Cumberland Gap.^^ Two 
men were appointed to mark this road and it was designed 
to facilitate immigration into the western lands. Boone's 
old trace which he had blazed for Henderson was utilized 
and was eventually improved until it became the most serv- 
iceable road in the west. Still another act of the As- 
sembly concerned itself with the military condition of 
Kentucky.^" For the better defense of her westernmost 
county Virginia enacted that two battalions of militia 
should be enlisted. Each battalion was to consist of ten 
companies and each company of fifty men. The men were 
to be enrolled for nine months and to receive pay from 
Virginia. But perhaps the most important of the acts 



io Shane MSS., Vol. I, p. 129. 

11 Hening, Vol. X, p. 196. 

^- Ibid., p. 143. Calloway and Evan Shelby were appointed to 
mark this road, but Shelby refused to serve, and Captain Kinkead 
was a])pointed. 

13 Ibid., p. 135. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 159 

passed at this session was the land act, establishing a Court 
of Land Commissioners to adjudicate claims under the 
Virginia Land Law.^^ By the provision of this act prac- 
tically all the land claims in Kentucky were validated and 
the settlers were given an opportunity to buy greater 
tracts on credit. It was a most liberal law, and the evils 
that arose from it were due to lax administration and not 
to the law itself. It played a great part in the bringing 
of settlers to Kentucky. So great, indeed, was the rush 
of immigrants to Kentucky and so imperfect were the 
methods of surveying that the danger became great that 
conflicting claims would be recorded. The Commissioners 
appointed for the adjusting of claims hurried to Kentucky 
and began their work. There were four members of this 
court, William Fleming, Edmund Lyne, James Barbour 
and Stephen Trigg. It is noticeable that none of these 
were natives of Kentucky, but were all appointed from 
Virginia. The court met October 13th, at St. Asaph, 
where John Williams was appointed clerk and a multitude 
of claims were passed upon. A future Governor, Isaac 
Shelby, enjoyed the honor of presenting the first claim. 
On the twenty-sixth of October the court, out of accom- 
modation, removed to Harrodstown, on November 16th to 
Louisville, December 18th, to Boonesborough, and on Jan- 
uary 3d, to Bryant's Station. Over three thousand claims 
were presented during the first year of the court's exist- 
ence.^^ 

The year 1779 came to a close with a disaster that 
sci'ved to warn the Kentuckians that their land, after all, 
was but a frontier country, and that their enemies had not 
lost their vigilance. Colonel David Rogers, a member of 



i*Ibid., p. 18. 

15 Clarke MSS., Vol. X, p. 368. 



160 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

the Virginia Asscnrbly, had been sent by Governor Henry 
down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans to bring 
back some goods that had been deposited there for Vir- 
ginia.^'' He was also carrying instructions to Clarke in 
the Illinois country and expected to be escorted homeward 
by a military guard. He accomplished his mission suc- 
cessfully and started on his return to Fort Pitt in the 
fall of 1779. He had three keel boats laden with stores 
and had nearly one hundred men on board. As the three 
boats reached the great sandbar, some three miles below 
the mouth of the Little Miami, the men on board were 
surprised to see a vast number of Indian-laden rafts shoot 
out from the mouth of the Miami into the Ohio. These 
were a party of Indians returning from a hunting trip 
and they were under the leadership of the so-called rene- 
gades, Elliot and the three Girtys. Rogers, thinking liim- 
self unseen, promptly landed liis men, in the hope of am- 
bushing the Indians. As it proved, however, the Indians 
had observed him, and scarcely had the white men landed 
when they found themselves surrounded by several hun- 
dred Indians. Only about ten men escaped to their homes. 
One boat with five men aboard escaped by pushing into the 
current and drifting down to the Falls. In a desperate 
effort to break through the enemy's line, Captain Benham 
was so wounded as to be unable to walk, while a compan- 
ion, Watson, had both arms broken. Each, however, lay 
concealed until the Indians withdrew, when, discovering 
each other, they both, by utilizing one pair of legs and a 
single pair of arms, managed to sustain life vmtil a chance 
flatboat rescued and carried them to the Falls. This dis- 
aster occurred October 3d, and the magnitude of it cast 
gloom over the closing days of 1779. 



10 Butterfield, History of the Oirtys, p. 110. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 161 

Yet the immigration of 1780 broke all previous records. 
The Ohio River route was now being utilized as well as 
the better known way through Cumberland Gap. This 
route, being along the borders of the Shawnese, was the 
more dangerous of the two, and there were innumerable 
outrages committed on its waters and along its banks. 
The use of it tended greatly to the upbuilding of north- 
ern Kentucky. Heretofore settlements had been slow to 
move out of the Bluegrass ; now Fort Nelson, from its 
position at the Falls, began to be the goal of immigration. 
In the spring of 1780 three hundred boatloads of immi- 
grants landed at the Falls. Many of these remained at 
Fort Nelson, but many also ventured to establish indepen- 
dent stations along the Beargrass. Notable, too, was the 
change in the character of the immigration. The previous 
immigrants had been drawn almost exclusively from Vir- 
ginia and North Carolina ; now over the northern route 
began to come in the people of Maryland and of Pennsyl- 
vania. The increase of people meant, of course, more 
work for the Land Court. In May, 1780, the county 
surv^eyor, John May, opened his office at Harrodstown, 
and Avas thenceforth kept busy with the numerous demands 
for his services. 

Virginia's plans of the previous year were, after all, 
not able to be carried out for the military defense of 
Kentuck3^ In May, 1780, the Virginia Assembly decided 
to send but one regiment of troops to Kentucky, instead 
of the two provided by the act of 1779. Colonel Slaugh- 
ter's corps of infantry w^as designated as a part of the 
troops that were to be sent to Kentucky. This act of Vir- 
ginia's in curtailing the military establishment was made 
necessary by stringent financial conditions. At the same 
time Virginia directed that her militia in service in Illinois 



162 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

should be withdrawn to Kentucky. This action was taken 
because of the fact that tlie paper money of Virginia 
would not pass current in Illinois, and she had no way of 
paying her militia there. ^^ 

Early in the spring of 1780 Colonel Slaughter's regi- 
ment arrived at Fort Nelson with one hundred and fifty 
Virginia troops. The arrival of these made the Falls of 
the Ohio the best fortified post in Kentucky. Moreover, 
Colonel Clarke was again in the fort, having returned 
thither after giving into the hands of John Todd the 
civil administration of Illinois. But neither Clarke nor 
the troops were to remain long at the Falls. The Virginia 
authorities were not yet content with the limits of their 
State. Annexation had become a contagious disease. 
Having appropriated Kentucky and possessed themselves 
of Illinois, Virginia looked longingly toward Canada and 
the Mississippi. But the renewed activities of the restless 
Shawnese made any expedition against Detroit out of the 
question. Nothing was needed to insure the expansion 
to the Mississippi, save outraging some friendly Indians 
and violating a well-kept peace. Neither of these troubled 
the official conscience of Virginia. Clarke was ordered by 
Jefferson to proceed to the mouth of the Ohio and plant 
a fort upon the Mississippi.'"* Clarke, accordingly, in the 
last days of April, descended the Ohio with two hundred 
men and built a fort about five miles below its junction 
with the jVIississippi. The Chickasaws, not yet initiated 
into the mysteries of Virginia diplomacy, might well stand 
amazed at this move. Up to this time they had not mo- 
lested the Kentucky settlements; when they realized the 



I- Hening, Vol. X, p. 215. 

18 It was Jefferson's intention to purchase territory from the 
Cherokees. Clarke M8S., Vol. L. Jefferson to Martin. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 168 

significance of the new fort in tlieir territory, they turned 
their fury against the exposed settlements in more impla- 
cable wrath than the Shawnese themselves. 

The Chickasaws were not alone in their disapproval of 
Clarke's movement ; the Kentuckians denounced it from 
the beginning. Their enemy, they asserted, was at the 
north and not the west. If Clarke wished to aid Ken- 
tucky, let him lead them against the northern Indians, or 
at least stay and aid them against the invasion they felt 
was preparing. The placing of a fort on the Mississippi 
would bring the Chickasaws promptly down upon them. 
Clarke had made himself unpopular by leaving Boones- 
borough defenseless while he invaded Illinois, but the suc- 
cess of this expedition had restored him to favor. The 
new project turned the people once more against him. 
Kentucky felt that it was being abandoned by Virginia 
and her officers. The first mutterings were heard against 
being governed by transmontane authority. Kentucky 
was sullen, discontented and apprehensive. 

Kentucky had good reason to be apprehensive. As the 
British officers had in 1778 taken advantage of Clarke's 
absence to send an expedition against Boonesborough, so 
they lost no time in seizing this second opportunity. While 
Clarke was at Fort Jefferson, Colonel Byrd, of the English 
army, collected a motley army of six hundred Canadians 
and Indians and set out for Kentucky. He had six pieces 
of artillery with him ; these probably were intended as 
much for inspiring the Indians as for intimidating the 
Kentuckians. Simon Girty was along in charge of the 
Wyandots. The anny made its way down the Miami 
River to the Ohio, from which place it was planned to 
descend upon Fort Nelson. But on reaching the river 



164 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

they found the waters of the Licking at full flood and 
easily high enough to admit boats. The plans were ac- 
cordingly changed, and the entire force embarked on the 
Licking for the interior of Kentucky. Progress was easy 
until they reached the forks of the river where Falmouth 
now stands. Here the shallowness of the river made it 
necessary to land the cannon and haul them overland to 
Ruddle's, the objective point of the expedition. It was 
found necessary to cut a wagon road and, consequently, 
it was not till June 22d that the force appeared before 
Ruddle's, having consumed eleven days in coming from the 
Ohio. Nevertheless, the garrison was taken entirely by 
surprise. It must be remembered that it was an unusually 
wet spring and much of the country was flooded. The 
settlers at Ruddle's had no thought that the Indians would 
attempt to penetrate into the interior of Kentucky while 
the floods were on. ^loreover, they thought, with the other 
Kcntuckians, that Louisville would be the object of attack. 
Byrd's army found them altogether unsuspecting. 

Bryd made known his presence by firing his cannon. ^^ 
The sight of an enemy so numerous dispirited the com- 
mander, Ruddle, but failed to shake the fortitude of his 
men. But after a second discharge of the cannon, Ruddle 
prevailed on the men to surrender. A written agreement 
was entered into by Byrd and the Kentuckians, by which 
the former undertook to ensure good treatment. There 
is no reason to believe that Byrd was insincere in this, but 
when the gates were thrown open, the red allies were not 
to be restrained. Although little murder Avas done, the 
Indians took possession of the prisoners and mistreated 
them in every way that suggested itself to their savage 



10 Clarke M88., Vol. XXIX, p. 26. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 165 

fancy. Families were separated, and complaints, if made, 
were silenced rudely by the club or tomahawk. Ruddle's was 
at the junction of South Licking and Hinkston Creek and 
Martin's Station was but five miles away up the banks of the 
former stream. Thither the Indians, highly elated at their 
success, hastened their way. Byrd, before approaching the 
fort, made it plain to the Indians that in case of a sur- 
render the prisoners must be given good treatment. ^*^ And, 
in fact, the Indians did observe the agreement at Martin's, 
rifling the property, but respecting the prisoners. ^^ Both 
these forts having succumbed so readily, many of the In- 
dians were for marching directly on the older settlements 
and sweeping Kentucky clear of white men. But wiser 
counsels prevailed. The Indian leaders were satisfied with 
what they had done, and were not confident of further 
success if they penetrated into the more settled portions 
of Kentucky. Byrd urged that the Licking was rapidly 
falling and there was need to take their cannon out of the 
country before the alarm was spread. The tradition that 
Byrd refused to go further because of the inhumanity of 
the Indians may safely be dismissed as idle fancy. It is 
not reasonable to suppose that an officer so well acquainted 
with the Indians as to be trusted with the command of 
them on an important expedition could have been so igno- 
rant of their customs as to feel shocked at their recent 
behavior. 

After the fall, then, of the two stations, Byrd's entire 
army retreated to the site of the present Falmouth. At 
this place the army divided into two sections ; some were 
content to go home slowly, while others preferred a more 
rapid retreat. The other settlements did not remain long 



20 Butterfield, History of the Girtys, p. 115. 

21 In all, Byrd took 129 prisoners at the two forts. 



166 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

ignorant of Bynl's expedition and its success. On tlie first 
night after the Britlsli force divided at the forks of the 
Licking, one of the prisoners of tlic Indians, John Hink- 
ston, escaped, and, after nuicli wandering about, reached 
Lexington and told of the fall of the two stations. Ken- 
tucky, roused and stung by the double defeat, turned her 
thoughts to retaliation. A clamor arose for an expedition 
against the Shawnesc. 

Meanwhile Clarke had inarched from Fort Jefferson to 
the relief of Cahokia, which was menaced by a British 
force, and learning there that Byrd was marching against 
Kentucky, he hastened to Louisville with what men he could 
spare and began preparations for a retaliatory expedition 
against the Shawnese. Clarke and the Virginia authori- 
ties had had in mind such an expedition since the first of 
the year,^- In January, Jefferson had written to Clarke 
that he expected him to invade the Shawnese territory some 
time in the summer; a little later he informed him that, 
in addition to his own force, there was preparing another 
expedition to march from Fort Pitt and co-operate with 
him. But this second expedition had to be given up, and 
by June it had been practically decided that the Ken- 
tucky force would not be raised until the following year. 
In the meantime the Kcntuckians had been growins more 
and more eager for such an enterprise. In March, 1T80, 
Richard Henderson spent some little time at Boones- 
borough trying to collect provisions for his proposed set- 
tlement on the land given him by North Carolina near 
Nashville. When he finally set out down the Kentucky 
River on the way to his new home, the Booncsborough peo- 
ple took occasion to send by him to Clarke a petition ask- 



22 Clarke MSS., Xnl. L. Correspondence of Jefferson, Clarke and 
Brodhead. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 167 

ing that the latter lead them against the Sha\vnese.~'^ 
As Henderson passed down the river the inhabitants of 
Bryant's and Lexington put in his charge similar peti- 
tions to Clarke for the invasion, expressing their confidence 
in the "great guns" that Clarke had at his command. 
These petitions were delivered to Clarke at Louisville before 
he set out for Fort Jefferson, but he was unable to act 
upon them. However, they confirmed him in his resolu- 
tion to invade Ohio at the first suitable opportunity. 

Thus it happened that when Clarke returned to the 
Bluegrass he found no trouble in getting the people en- 
listed in the expedition that he for so long had had in 
mind. He sent throughout the settlements a proclamation 
of his intended enterprise and appealed to the people to 
rally to its support. He called for a general rendezvous 
at the mouth of the Licking. Nearly one thousand men 
gathered at the appointed place August 1st ; among 
these were the State troops that had previously come from 
V irginia with Slaughter. ^^ Clarke, as commander of this 
force, divided it into two divisions under the leadership of 
Colonel Linn and Colonel Logan. The army tarried a 
few days at the mouth of the Licking, built two block 
houses and then, with Simon Kenton as guide, set out for 
the Shawnese towns. There was little likelihood that Ken- 
ton would lose his way ; he had been over the ground a 
score of times in forays and horse-stealing expeditions. 
Here two 3'ears before as an unlucky sequel to a horse- 
stealing adventure of more than ordinary flagrance, he 
had been captured, forced to run the gauntlet and finally 
tied to a stake to be burned. This interesting event was 
prevented only by the interference of his old friend Girty. 



23 Ibid., Vol. L. 

24 Clarke MSS., Vol. XXVI, p. 101. 



168 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Such incidents were not cnlculuted to make liim forget the 
country. As they marclicd a road had to be cut for the 
artillery, and it was the sixth of August before they 
reached the Indian towns. They found tlie towns de- 
serted and they lost no time in applying the torch to the 
houses. The orchards and corn were cut to the ground. 
After this martial and civilized pastime had been ex- 
hausted, the army passed on to Piqua on the Big Miami. 
Here, however, the Indians made a stand and held their 
own until the use of cannon compelled them to retreat. 
The loss of the white force was. fourteen killed and thir- 
teen wounded ; the Indian loss was triple this, but they 
managed to carry off their dead in the night. More than 
eight hundred of well-cultivated corn was destroyed. 

The Kentuckians hoped by this expedition to prevent 
further invasion of their country. They argued that the 
destruction of the villages and cornfields of the Indians 
would render them destitute and helpless ; it was so late 
that no further crops could be raised that year and suf- 
fering must result during the winter. This reasoning was 
as fallacious as it was ingenious. The Indians could re- 
build their cabins in a few days' time. They were not 
dependent on their cornfields for supplies. The British 
in Canada would see to it that their red allies did not 
want; they would not risk disaffection by a failure to 
afford supplies. The next spring the Indians would re- 
build their cabins, replant their cornfields and take up 
their guerrilla warfare against Kentucky with a ferocity 
only increased by the destruction of their property. 
Kentucky was destined to have peace only when the In- 
dians themselves were appeased or their British aid with- 
drawn. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 169 

The raising of one thousand troops for this expedi- 
tion shows plainly how great had been the immigation 
during the year. Desire for Kentucky land was not the 
only motive these people had in crossing the mountains. 
Over on the seacoast the British were beginning to carry 
tlie war into the south. The dread of their coming drove 
many families over the Cumberlands ; they preferred to 
encounter the Indians rather than the British. Many 
royalists, too, fled to Kentucky rather than stay at home 
and be compelled to oppose the British. Neither royalist 
nor patriot was much inclined to settle in Kentucky ; as 
soon as they thought the dangers passed at home they 
returned. A worse class of settlers and one that Ken- 
tucky could well have spared were the land speculators. 
The looseness of the land laws made it possible for specu- 
lators to take up immense tracts without the formality of 
seeing them. The warrants for these, readily obtained, 
they industriously sold to the prospective settlers. The 
warrants were issued by Virginia. But neither Virginia 
nor the settler knew whether they represented actual land 
or not. The proud possessor of them, on reaching Ken- 
tucky, often found the land entirely fictitious or pos- 
sessed by some one else. The speculators became experts 
also in Indian signs. An Indian scare always resulted in 
many people leaving the country and selling their holdings 
for whatever they would bring. It was the policy of the 
speculators to manufacture as many Indian scares as pos- 
sible in order to buy up the lands cheaply. Such tactics 
were later to bring results of great moment to Kentucky. 

Virginia had not been unmindful of this great growth 
in her western domain. In November, 1780, the Virginia 
Assembly passed an act dividing Kentucky into three 



23 Hening, Vol. X, p. 315. 



170 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

counties.'"' Noi-tli of tlic Kentucky River was Fayette 
County ; west of the same river was Jefferson, wlnile the 
residue received the name of Lincoln. Each comity had a 
completely organized government similar in detail to those 
of eastern A'^irginia. It is to be noticed that in the crea- 
tion of these three new counties, the time honored name, 
Kentucky, disappeared. For a little while there was no 
"Kentucky," but the name survived in the speech of the 
people and came to life in a few years as the name of a 
court. This creation of more county units was necessarily 
accompanied by a better and more complete organization 
of the militia. Kentucky was expanding and growing, 
but the peril from the Indians was increased rather than 
lessened by the fact ; there was now both more at stake 
and the foe was better organized than ever before. Ken- 
tucky had need of her militia. Logan commanded in Lin- 
coln County, Flo3d in Jefferson, and Todd in Fayette. 
Daniel Boone was second in command under Todd, Trigg 
under Logan and Pope under Flo^^d. All these men were 
tried fighters and tested leaders. In their hands Ken- 
tucky had reason to believe that the long-desired peace 
w^ould come to her borders. 

When Kentucky County was established in 1776 her 
southern boundary was fixed at the northern line of North 
Carolina. This would have been eminentl}- definite had 
any one known where the said northern line was located. 
Neither Virginia nor North Carolina had more than the 
vaguest idea of the boundary' between their territory be- 
yond the mountains. But as Tennessee and Kentucky 
began to he filled w'ith actual settlers, it became increas- 
ingly important that the line should be detennined. Ac- 
cordingh', in the latter part of 1778 Virginia had ap- 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 171 

pointed a commission to act with one selected by North 
CaroHna to surve^^ the hnc to the Ohio or the Tennessee.^*' 
At the head of the Virginia commission was Dr. Thomas 
Walker, while the North Carolina men were under the direc- 
tion of Richard Henderson. ^^ Walker had led the first 
exploring party into Kentucky and Henderson had estab- 
lished the first colony within its borders. Their names 
were reminiscent of a time even then fast fading from 
memory. The commissioners were to follow the parallel 
36° 30' until tliey ran into the Tennessee, the Ohio or the 
Mississippi. Jefferson suspected that the line would strike 
the Tennessee first, and he instructed Walker that in 
that emergency he should go down the Tennessee and the 
Ohio and ascertain the latitude of the junction of the Ohio 
and the Mississippi."^ It will be remembered that these in- 
structions were given before the building of Fort Jeffer- 
son and when the land beyond the Tennessee was yet ad- 
mitted to be Indian territory. The commissioners met by 
appointment and began their survey. The prejudice of 
the surveyors or the inaccuracy of their instruments soon 
resulted in a difference in surveying. They separated 
and ran different lines ; when they reached the top of the 
Cumberland Mountains Henderson quit while Walker con- 
tinued his survey alone. "^ He ran to the Tennessee River 
and marked his line. Perceiving that the extension of this 
line would enter Indian territory and would strike the Mis- 
sissippi, he abandoned the work. Walker's line was sub- 
sequently adopted by Kentucky, but at the Tennessee River 



26 Hening, Vol. IX, p. 561. 

27 Laws of North Carolina, Vol. XXIV, p. 223. William Bailey 
Smith, Jolm Williams, James Kerr and Orandatus Davis were Hen- 
derson's associates on the commission. 

28 Clarke MSB., Vol. I.. Correspondence of Walker and JeflFerson. 

29 Summers, History of Southwest Virginia, p. 699. 



172 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

it is twelve miles out of course. Kentucky and Tennessee 
were to engage in many a quaiTel over tliis imperfect 
boundary ; even today the status of the region between 
Walker's line and 36° 30' is undefined. 

The completion of the survey of the southern boundary 
of Kentucky was not reached until 1780. Coming as it 
did in the same year as the erection of two new counties 
in Kentucky, 1780 is a date to be remembered as one in 
which an important step was taken for the greater sta- 
bility and orderliness of the government. 

In the early part of 1781, Clarke was created a briga- 
dier-general conmianding the Virginia troops in the west 
and having his headquarters at Louisville. Virginia, in 
taking this action, had designed that neither he nor the 
Kentucky militia should be idle. Her eyes were still 
turned to the far-off fields. In the preceding autumn her 
statesmen had formed a plan for the capture of Detroit 
and for relieving His Most Gracious Majesty of quite a 
little of his northern territory. Clarke was instmcted 
to gather by March 15th a force of two thousand militia 
at Louisville and be ready in the spring to proceed north- 
ward.^" But it so happened that the rendezvous was not 
made until late in the summer and the expedition never 
made at all. There were many reasons for this. 

The British, in the prosecution of their plan for in- 
vading the south were now, thanks to General Green, 
engaged in an unprofitable war in Virginia. Before Clarke 
could go west again it became necessary for him to help 
defend his home. He entered the Continental army and 
sc^^'ed till the danger seemed averted. Spring had already 
gone when he at length was free to turn his attention west- 
ward. He was to have the aid of the Pennsylvania militia 



30 Clarke MSS., Jefferson to Clarke, January 19, 1781. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 173 

as well as of his own State. Colonel Laughrey was to 
command them and meet him at Wheeling, The rapidity 
of Laug'hrey's movements may be inferred from the fact 
that, although Clarke did not reach Wheeling until July, 
he found Laughrey not yet arrived. Clarke reached 
Wheeling with a respectable force, but their wholesale de- 
sertion warned him to proceed. He hastened on to Louis- 
ville. Laughrey reaching Wheeling and finding Clarke 
gone, sent five men ahead to overtake Clarke and tell him 
that they needed supplies. The five were captured by the 
Indians and disclosed Laughrey's plans and his weakness. 
Laughrey was ambushed at Island No. 54 ; sixty-four of 
his men were killed and forty-two made prisoners. ^^ 

Clarke, disappointed in Laughrey's aid, could not suc- 
ceed in raising the Kentucky militia. The Kentuckians 
firmly and disrespectfully refused to go against Detroit. 
Clarke had alienated them by his Illinois campaign, his 
establishing of Fort Jefferson and by a late regulation 
requiring the militia to sel'^'e on board a patrol boat he 
had established on the Ohio.""^^ The settlers were willing 
enough to fight Indians, but were not ardent over the 
prospect of rowing a heavy boat up and down the Ohio 
on the very meagre chance of encountering a foe. The 
boat soon ran ashore at the mouth of the Beargrass and 
suspicion was not lacking that the stranding was encour- 
aged by the crew. Kentucky, in truth, had enough and 
more to do in engaging her land foes. In IMarch, Captain 
Tipton, Captain Chapman and Colonel Lynn were killed 
in the Beargrass, and Captain Whittaker, attempting to 
avenge the loss, was ambushed and lost heavily. In April, 



31 Clarke M8S., Vol. X, p. 518. 

32 Clarke MSS., Vol. XXIX. Deposition of John Mitchell. This 
boat had seventy oars and was equipped with cannon. 



174 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

while Squire Boone and the inhabitants of liis station were 
rcniovino' to Louisville, they were attacked and scattered 
by the Indians. Colonel Floyd, with thirty mounted men, 
attempting to retaliate, was himself ambushed and lost 
one-half his force. McAfee's Station and Montgomery's 
had both been attacked and suffered great loss. Kentucky 
did not need to look to Detroit for trouble. 

Added to Laughrey's defeat and the attitude of Ken- 
tucky came the news that the Chickasaws had risen, were 
besieging Fort Jefferson, and would certainly take it unless 
Clarke Imrried to its relief.'''' Clarke lost no time in start- 
ing ; when he arrived he found that the Indians were led by 
a Scotchman named Colbert and had attempted more than 
once to storm the fort. Only the use of cannon had pre- 
vented the loss of the post. The siege had been going on 
for several days before Clarke's arrival and continued a 
few days more. The Indians, however, ultimately became 
disheartened and retired. Fort Jefferson was abandoned 
soon after ; it should never have been occupied. 

Such were the events that prevented Clarke from car- 
rying out his long-cherished desire for an expedition 
against Detroit. It was, perhaps, as well for the American 
cause and his own fame that he was not enabled to begin 
it. The conquest of Detroit would have been a far dif- 
ferent undertaking from that of Kaskaskia and Vincennes. 
The two latter posts had been feeble and indifferent or 
friendly, but Detroit was hostile and manned by English- 
men. The capture of it would have called for the best 
efforts of a great general and an enthusiastic army. That 
Clarke, supported by a rabble of disgruntled frontiersmen, 
would have encountered great obstacles goes almost with- 



33 Cal Va. St. Papers, Vol. I, p. 382. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 175 

out saying. Clarke resigned himself to the inevitable and 
proceeded to utilize his energies in fortifying Fort Nelson. 
His success in this only rendered him more unpopular in 
Kentucky, where a strong and insistent demand was being 
made that forts should be built to protect the Licking 
and the Kentucky rather than the Beargrass. By advice 
of the Virginia Council in June, 1780, frontier forts in 
the west were to be built at the mouth of the Kanawha, 
the Big Sandy and the Licking. For the garrison of the 
fort on the Licking, fifty men were to be raised from Ken- 
tucky and Colonel Crockett's regiment was to march thither 
from Virginia. In all there were to be one hundred and 
fifty men in the fort and Clarke was to have the chief 
command as in all western matters. In September, Crockett 
received orders to proceed westward, but the fort on the 
Licking was never built. Much to the disgust of the Ken- 
tuckians, Clarke gave his entire time to fortifying Louis- 
ville, and, either through inability or disinclination, stead- 
ily disregarded the clamor of the Kentuckians for the 
building of the other forts. While this controversy was 
going on as to whether the land should be protected from 
the ever-present Indian or the remote Englishman, the 
Revolutionary war came to a sudden and unexpected close. 
Yorktown put an end to Clarke's plans, defensive or offen- 
sive, against the British, and rendered the Kentuckians, so 
they vainly thought, secure against Indian war for the 
future. Kentucky had taken little interest and less part 
in the Revolution. The Kentuckians cared little, probably 
knew little, of the merits of the dispute ; they were seem- 
ingly as little concerned with the results. They were Ken- 
tuckians first and Virginians afterwards. They were 
intensely interested in rendering their own homes safe from 



176 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

the Indians, but were profanely unwilling to fight Eng- 
land for the sake of an abstraction. When Clarke con- 
quered the Illinois, onl}' a handful of Kentuckians were 
with him ; Avhen the frontiersmen engaged Tarleton at 
King's Mountain, Kentuckians were conspicuously absent. 
But no leader, no matter how mediocre or unpopular, ever 
proposed an expedition against the Shawnesc and failed 
to find enthusiastic support among the Kentuckians. The 
question of defending Kentucky and of repulsing or de- 
stroying her Indian foes was a vital matter among the 
pioneers. They were absorbed in Kentucky ; no foreign 
affair, no matter how important in itself, could be appre- 
ciated among them as long as their own homes were endan- 
gered. A clear conception of this fact will do much toward 
rendering plain the seemingly inexplicable actions of the 
Kentuckians of the next decade. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 177 



THE YEAR OF SORROWS. 

^ I ^HE surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in October, 
1781, actually closed the Revolution in the seaboard 
States. There folloAved a year of truce, during which 
both combatants rested on their arms, exhausted by past 
endeavors and hopeful of a lasting peace. For seven mis- 
erable 3'ears and more the colonists along the Atlantic had 
striven desperately, body and soul, against foreign in- 
vaders and domestic foes. In the course of that time they 
had, after infinite striving, succeeded in keeping their 
land inviolate and themselves a nation ; they had captured 
two armies on land and well-nigh shipwrecked the power 
of England on the sea. They had done more. They had 
struck at and destroyed in New York the powerful Iro- 
quois Confederacy which had clung so long and faithfully 
to the English. Yet they had not come unscathed from 
the contest ; towns had been burnt and countrysides har- 
ried b}' their enemies. There had been Camdens and Val- 
ley Forges without number. Their soldiers had gone into 
the war destitute and emerged with conditions unimproved. 
The credit of tlie nation was destroyed and treason was 
abroad in the land. Surely if past misfortunes were any 
indication of deserts to come, the Atlantic States merited, 
as they secured, a time of peace and of prosperity. 

But the time that brought peace to the eastern States 
brought little but disasters to the transmontane lands. 
Kentucky had remained careless, if not indifferent, while 
the eastern States were fighting for existence ; it was per- 
haps no more than fitting that now Avhile the remainder 
of the land was given an opportunity for rest, Kentucky 



178 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

must needs struggle, unaided, for her life. The British, 
by reason of Cornwallis' surrender and the extermination 
of the Iroquois, were utterly unable to strike, even had 
they wished, at the Tidewater countries ; they were better 
prepared than ever before to carry the war into Kentucky. 
The}^ had clinched their hold on Canada and tightened 
their grasp on the northwest posts. From these positions 
they enjoyed and used every opportunity for inciting their 
Indian allies against Kentucky. The time, moreover, was 
opportune, for the Indians of Ohio and Indiana were 
alarmed by the prospect of peace and fearful for an ac- 
counting for past misdeeds. They readily lent themselves 
to the urgent plans of the English Governor of Canada, 
and so while the seaboard States were joyous in expecta- 
tion and possession of peace, Kentucky, alone, was ap- 
proaching the valley of the shadow. 

Moved by the urgings and even the pleadings of the 
English, the Indians of the northwest, in the winter of 
1781-82, planned for a grand assembly to mature plans 
for a joint expedition against Kentucky. The assembly was 
to meet in the summer at the Shawnese capital of Old Chilli- 
cothe and was to be attended by the chiefs and warriors of 
all tribes under the British influence ; Shawnese, Mingoes, 
Delawares, Wyandots, and Pottawattomies were to be there 
from the north of the Ohio, and even the Cherokees from 
distant Tennessee were represented. In all the efforts to 
unite tlie Indians for this expedition, the Shawnese, as the 
most inveterate enemies of the Kentuckians, had taken the 
lead. All during the winter their runners were kept busy 
visiting the different tribes and urging upon them the 
necessity of prompt and decisive action. Such an appeal 
could not fail of success among the Indians; not a tribe 
of them but had good reason for hating the Kentuckians. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 179 

So the Shawnese found themselves leaders in a movement 
second only to that of Pontiac. All tribes were to meet 
at Chillicothe in August and march against Kentucky. 

But neither the passions of the Indians nor the impa- 
tience of the English disposed them to wait until August 
to begin the war. A party of twenty-five Wyandots 
started on the warpath early in the spring. They crossed 
the Ohio River and made their way rapidly toward central 
Kentucky, appearing before Strode's Station on the first 
of j\Iarch. Strode's was a small station of some thirty 
cabins settled entirely from Boonesborough and serving as 
an outpost of the older fort from which it was distant 
about ten miles. A part of its garrison at the time of the 
attack was gone to Boonesborough to help ward off an 
Indian attack that never came, but there happened to be 
within the fort several hunters from a neighboring post. 
The Indians, surprising the fort, succeeded in killing two 
men, but were unable to accomplish anything more. After 
a thirtj'-six hour siege, having destroyed all the sheep and 
cattle, they departed in high spirits just a few hours pre- 
vious to the return of the men who had gone to Boones- 
borough. The garrison, being too weak to pursue, had to 
content itself with burying the dead. The Indians pursued 
their way eastward and crossed the Kentucky several miles 
above Boonesborough. By accident or design one of the 
rafts on which they crossed the river was allowed to float 
doAvn the Kentucky and was detected by the Boones- 
borough men on the nineteenth as it drifted past the fort. 
To them it was an ominous sign, indicating that Indians 
were near and in considerable numbers. They lost no time 
in sending word to Colonel Logan at Saint Asaph that 
trouble was brewing for Lincoln County. Logan, upon 
receiving the news, dispatched fifteen men to Estill's Station, 



180 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

witli the injunction that Estill should take forty men and 
search for the Indians. Estill, in obeying these orders, left 
his own fort defenseless. Hardly had he started on his 
search before the Wyandots appeared around the fort, 
caught outside and killed one of the women and captured 
Monk, the negro slave of Captain Estill. Prodigious 
lying on Monk's part led the Indians to believe that the 
fort was well manned ; they withdrew in some trepidation, 
taking Monk along. Immediately two boys Avere sent out 
from the fort to find Estill and tell him what had liap- 
pened. Estill, hearing this report, set out in hot pursuit 
with twenty-five of his men. On the morning of the twen- 
ty-second of March he overtook the Indians near the site 
of the present Mount Sterling. 

The struggle that followed has become a memorable 
event in Kentucky history under the name of "Estill's 
defeat." ' It was in fact more than defeat ; it was anni- 
hilation. When Estill came up with the Indians they were 
just crossing a branch of Hinkston Creek known as Small 
Mountain Creek. As the white men came into view a 
sharp command from the Wj^andot chieftain sent his fol- 
lowers quickly to cover and the battle began with the 
stream separating the opposing forces. The struggle was 
over a densely wooded field of eight or ten acres, and the 
method of fighting was one well suited to each side ; it was 
from the beginning "every man to his man and every man 
to his tree." The numbers were equal of each force, but at 
the beginning of the fight Estill thought it expedient to de- 
tach Lieutenant Miller Avith six men to guard the horses. 
These took their station in the rear while the remaining 
eigliteen pressed on against the Indians. The thick for- 



1 Boone MSS., Vol. XIII. Depositions of Joseph Proctor, David 
Lynch and Hazehigg. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 181 

ests intervening soon made it impossible for Miller to un- 
derstand how the battle was going. The contest was 
stubborn and desperate. The Wyandots fought with their 
characteristic fierceness and resolution, and under the di- 
rection of their chief executed a daring flank movement at 
the most critical moment of the battle. Their flanking 
party came upon Miller and his men as they were unsus- 
pectingly guarding the horses in the rear. The seven 
white men fled precipitately and ingloriously from the 
field. The battle now became a slaughter and ended in the 
death of Estill and all but five of his men. The same 
number of Indians remained alive, and with the withdrawal 
of the white men these, sullen and weary, set out on their 
long way home. 

The effect of this battle was indescribable. Kentucky 
had never before been invaded by Indians capable of fight- 
ing so determinedly. The Kentuckians had tried the met- 
tle of the Wyandots and had to acknowledge defeat. 
Henceforth the very name spread terror over the land. 
The white dead had been left with the Indians, and Ken- 
tucky felt keenly the disgrace of this. Previously they 
had despised the Indians ; henceforward they were compelled 
to dread. Miller and his companions were held up to 
public obloquy, but to a dispassionate enquirer their ac- 
tions appear far from disgraceful. They had no way of 
knowing the fate of Estill and his men. The advance of 
the Indians indicated that the van of the white force had 
been destroyed. In such an event, it was certain death 
for them to stand their ground. It would have been of 
more than human courage to do otherwise than flee. Ap- 
parently, too, the Wyandots had satiated themselves with 
fighting, for only a few minor depredations followed 



182 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Estill's defeat. During June and July Kentucky was 
unvisited by hostile Indians and the country enjoyed a 
short and delusive quiet. It was the calm that conies be- 
fore a storm ; the two months' cessation of hostilities was 
necessitated by the preparations of the Indians for their 
proposed expedition against Kentucky. The tribes met at 
Old Chillicothe during the first da3's of August and aroused 
by every device known to Indian savagery the passions 
of their warriors for tlie work in hand. Ths Wyandots, 
in fact, needed no encouragement ; it was to be with them 
a matter of revenge. For in the spring of the year an 
expedition sent out from Fort Pitt had ruthlessly and in 
definance of the laws of God and man slaughtered the Mora- 
vian Indians of the Wyandots living on the Sanduskj^ 
River. A second marauding expedition had fallen into 
their hands, and its leader. Colonel Crawford, had been 
burned after horrible barbarities. These things had roused 
the wrath and inflamed the passions of the Wyandots. 
Their white leader, Simon Girty, took a prominent part 
in the deliberations, if such they can be called, at Chilli- 
cothe. In an oration, second only in beauty and inten- 
sity of feeling to that of Logan's, he recited their wrongs 
and invoked their vengeance. Captain Caldwell of the 
British service was in command of the force that finally 
got under way for Kentucky ; Moluntha commanded the 
Shawnesc and Girty went along as interpreter and quasi- 
commander of the Wyandots. Caldwell had with him some 
thirty picked rangers, and his total force numbered about 
three hundred men. He moved down the Little Miami, 
crossed the Ohio, and made his way into Kentucky over 
the route used by Byrd two years before.^ 



2 De Peyster to Haldimand, Clarke MSS., Vol. X, p. 635. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 183 

What was the power of Kentucky to resist an invasion 
so formidable? The highest officer in the land was Briga- 
dier-General Clarke, at that time with headquarters at 
Louisville. But he was thoroughly disgruntled over the 
failure of his Detroit campaign and remained sullenly 
aloof from things Kentuckian. His indifference, in truth, 
was so great as to merit and receive the sharpest of repri- 
mands from the Governor of Virginia before the close of 
the year.^ Of the three counties of Kentuck}^, John Todd 
commanded as county-lieutenant in Fayette, John Floyd 
in Jefferson, and Benjamin Logan in Lincoln. All these 
men were commanders of proven ability, but there is some 
evidence to indicate that there was not complete harmony 
among them. They had differed in regard to the location 
of the forts to be built by Virginia for the protection of 
Kentucky and to the advisability of the expedition against 
Detroit. The superior reputation of Logan as an Indian 
fighter did not, perhaps, increase his popularity with his 
brother officers. Logan, moreover, as senior colonel was 
the ranking officer in any joint enterprise. The military 
strength of Kentucky, as ascertained the previous sum- 
mer, was 1,236, of which number Jefferson furnished 354, 
Lincoln, 732 and Fayette, 150.* In all probability the 
Kentucky militia, in August, 1782, did not number more 
than 1,500. No such number, however, could be gathered 
together at any one time for a definite purpose. The Ken- 
tuckians, as their leaders, were divided among themselves 
in regard to Virginia's war policy and the merits of their 
commanders. 

Such was the state of Kentucky when Caldwell crossed 
the Ohio with his force of Indians and rangers. Passing 



3 Clarke M8S., Vol. LII, Harrison to Clarke, October 17, 1782, 
p. 60. 

* Floyd to Clarke, Clarke MS8., Vol. LI, May 22, 1781, p. 53. 



184 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

down the Licking River until he was near Ruddle's Sta- 
tion, he, at Mill Creek, turned his course toward central 
Kentucky, and, after detaching a part of his force to 
distract the attention of the other forts, led the main 
body of his men to Bryant's Station, about five miles from 
Lexington, and placed them in hiding around it on the 
night of August 15th. Meanwhile the subordinate force 
had been doing its work well. On the tenth it had raided 
Hoy's Station in what is now Madison County, and had 
carried off two boys, one of whom was Hoy's son."' They 
then retreated slowly and insolently toward the Ohio, with 
the hope that a force would be collected for pursuit, and 
thus leave fewer men to guard Bryant's. Their expecta- 
tions were realized. Captain John Holder in hot haste 
set out from his own station, and gathering volunteers as 
he passed Boonesborough, Strode's and ^IcGee's followed 
rapidly with a force numbering sixty-three men. He 
reached the Upper Blue Licks on Licking River just as 
the Indians were disappearing in the distance on the trail 
to the Lower Blue Licks. Holder, in spite of his pre- 
cautions, ran into an ambuscade a mile below the Licks, and 
the defeat that followed is conuncmorated by the name — 
Battle Run — given to the stream near which the Indians 
were overtaken. After a period of confused and desperate 
fighting, Holder managed to extricate his force with but 
one man killed and three wounded. His retreat across the 
Licking left the Indians in possession of the field and added 
one more defeat to the already long list of the year's 
disasters. 

The news of Hoy's Station and Battle Run reached 
Bryant's a little before the Indians encamped around it, 



5 Shane MSS., Vol. II, p. 245. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 185 

and, as Caldwell had hoped, the garrison began at once 
making preparations to march to the aid of their neigh- 
bors. All the night long, while the Indians lay hidden 
around the fort, the garrison of forty-four men was kept 
busy within making preparations for an early start next 
morning. Had Caldwell known of this he would have 
bided his time until the force had departed and had 
left the fort bare of defenders. But he had miscalculated 
and was under the impression that the relief company 
had already marched. So, when at sunrise one of the 
negro slaves, Jim, made his appearance he was fired upon 
and the shots made known to the garrison that the fort 
was invested.^ There was no further talk of marching; 
the men settled themselves grimly for the stiniggle before 
them. Yet the Indians, as often, did not choose to show 
their strength. Two men on horseback were sent out 
from the fort to seek help from Lexington and the 
Indians allowed them to depart unmolested ; nor was any 
injury done to the women who went out and milked the 
cows nor to the negroes who carried in the water from the 
spring. The Indians, evidently, had no intention of 
unmasking their forces for the sake of capturing a few 
women or negroes. Elijah Craig who was in command 
of the fort determined to decoy the Indians into an 
attack; he sent thirteen men about eight o'clock into the 
lane beside the fort to draw the fire of the Indians whom 
he suspected of being in ambush there. The Indians 
fired upon the men and immediately there was a rush to 
storm the fort. But a terrific fire from the alert garrison 
forced them to retreat in confusion. For the remainder 
of the day they contented themselves with burning the 



« Boone M8S., Vol. XIII. Deposition of Joseph Fisklin, p. 74. 



186 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

stables and keeping up an uninterrupted yelling and fir- 
ing from a safe distance. In the meantime the two 
messengers sent to Lexington returned with the news that 
they had found, on reaching Lexington, all the avail- 
able men there already on the road to reinforce Holder, 
that they had overtaken them on the march and induced 
them to turn back to the relief of Bryant's. The Lex- 
ington men, in fact, followed close on the messenger 
and appeared near the fort at about one o'clock. In order 
to enter the fort it was necessary for them to pass 
through a cornfield down a narrow lane. In this corn- 
field the Indians lay in ambush silently until the entire 
mounted force was encompassed. Then they began a 
furious but ill-aimed fire. But the Lexington men for- 
seeing such an event, had at the first report spurred their 
horses to full speed and by dint of hard riding and rare 
good fortune managed to reach the fort without an in- 
jury. The garrison, not daring to open their gates, 
took them bodily, horses and riders, through their cabin 
doors. Meanwhile, some half dozen horsemen from 
Boonesborough and about thirty footmen from Lexing- 
ton came up and hearing the firing made for the lane. 
They quickly found themselves confronted by Indians in 
overwhelming numbers but with empty guns. This latter 
fact gave the white men an opportunity to escape and 
they took it in the swiftest and most informal manner. 
All escaped but six. 

After the arrival of the Lexington men within the 
fort, the Indians made little effort to force the fighting 
but contented themselves with random firing and yelling 
of the most astounding fashion. As the afternoon wore 
on they killed all the cattle they could collect and made 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 187 

a great feast. About dusk Simon Girty cautiously ad- 
vanced to within a few yards of the fort, and prudently 
sheltering himself behind a long stump asked for a con- 
ference. This request was carried to Captain Craig who 
without leaving the fort inquired of Girty what he 
wanted. The substance of Girt3^'s reply was a demand 
to surrender — a proceeding which Craig promptly re- 
fused to consider. Girty continued to urge a surrender, 
mentioning that he had six hundred Indians and was 
expecting artillery. In concluding he gave his personal 
guarantee that in case of surrender none of the garri- 
son would be mistreated and mentioned his name asking 
if the Kentucky people did not know him. To this ques- 
tion Aaron Reynolds replied that Simon Girty was well 
known in Kentucky and that he liimself had two worth- 
less dogs, one of which he had named Simon and the 
other Girty on account of their striking resemblance to 
the moral character of that worthy. At this badinage 
Girty pretended to be, and perhaps was, much offended. 
He insisted that such an awful crisis should not be made 
light of. Reynolds interrupted to explain that if Girty 
or any other men came too near the fort the white men 
purposed to punish them with switches, of which com- 
modity they had secured a great amount for this partic- 
ular purpose. An end was put to this singular inter- 
view by an audible request from Reynolds to Craig for 
permission to try a shot at Girty. The latter lost no 
time in withdrawing. 

It vras evident to the Indians that no advantage would 
result from a longer investment. They decided to try 
the tactics of Hoy's Station and retreat in the hope of 
ambushing the white men if they pursued. So early in 



188 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

tlie night the whole force, thirty or forty, noisily with- 
drew. Toward daybreak all the others departed and the 
garrison coming cautiously out the next morning found 
onl}' their campfires and the remnant of their breakfast. 
In a siege of twenty-four hours the Indians had lost 
five killed and two wounded, four of the garrison had 
been killed. Three hundred hogs, one hundred and fifty 
head of cattle, and many sheep had been destroyed ; a 
number of horses had been stolen, the potatoes and corn 
destroyed. In itself the siege of Bryant's Station was 
of small moment ; its importance is due to the fact that 
it was one link in the chain of disasters beginning with 
Strode's Station and culminating in the catastrophe of 
Lower Blue Licks. 

As was usually the case, many legends sprang up 
after the investment was ended. The choicest of these, 
perhaps, is that which relates to the carrying of water 
during the siege. The tradition goes that the water 
was brought in by the women as the result of a shrewd 
surmise on the part of the garrison that the Indians 
would not fire on them. Each succeeding historian has 
added to the fable until it bids fair to crowd out all the 
other events of the day. As a matter of fact the story 
is pure fiction and has no support from contemporary 
authorities. Equally imaginative is the fear caused the 
settlei*s by Girty's threats. There were more than sixty 
men in the fort when Girty demanded its surrender and 
it would have been extremely difficult to find in Kentucky 
sixty well-armed men timid enough to feel dismayed at 
the threats of an intemperate Irishman. Under the 
facile touch of the Kentuckians the number of Indians 
at Bryant's Station has increased as remarkably as did 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 189 

FalstafF's opponents in buckram suits ; we are repeat- 
edly assured that there were five or six hundred Indians 
around the fort. By Caldwell's own report he had but 
three hundred men with him when he crossed the Ohio 
and if we make allowance for the men sent to Hoy's 
Station and for deserters it is improbable that he reached 
Bryant's with many more than two hundred. 

All during the day following the siege the relief forces 
kept coming into the fort. Colonel Levi Todd had led 
the seventeen men who had made their way into the 
fort through tlie opposing Indians.^ In the evening of 
the next day, Colonel John Todd, Colonel Trigg and 
Major McGary arrived with one hundred and thirty 
militia from Lincoln and Fayette.*' No aid, because of 
distance, was attempted from Jefferson, but Colonel 
Logan was busily engaged in getting out the militia in 
full force in Lincoln. A council of war was held on the 
night of the seventeenth, and immediate pursuit of the 
enemy was decided upon, notwithstanding the protests of 
McGar}^ and others. One hundred and eighty-two men 
on horseback left the fort early on the morning of the 
eighteenth and marched swiftly over the trail that the 
Indians had rendered suspiciously evident. Colonel John 
Todd was the ranking officer of the little army and of 
the entire force over one-third were officers. They were 
well mounted and as there was no difficulty in keeping the 
trail, the march was rapid. By early afternoon they 
had reached the banks of Hinkston Creek near the present 
site of Millersburg and saw that the Indians had built 
their campfires there the night before. By night they 



7 He himself, however, being on foot, was unable to get in. 

8 Todd to Todd, Cal Va. St. Papers, Vol. Ill, p. 8831. 



190 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

had covered thirty-three miles. They went into the camp 
for the night near the Licking River; the Indians were 
encamped only four miles away ; neither force knew that 
the other was near. 

A short march the following morning brought them 
to the banks of the Licking. As they came to the edge 
of the stream they could see on the opposite side the 
stragglers of the Indian army dissappearing over the 
hill.*^ Evidently the enemy was at hand and the longed 
for encounter of white man and Wyandot was imminent. 
In the presence of danger the leaders were sobered and 
halted their troops for a consultation. The march had 
been impetuous and disorderly, the hearts of the Ken- 
tuckians were hot for revenge, and they meant to attain 
it at all hazards. Yet for all their ardor none knew 
better than they that in a planless encounter every chance 
favored their enemies. It was, moreover, increasingly 
evident that the Indians were acting on a well-calculated 
plan. They had retreated slowly, covering in two days 
the distance that the hot-headed Kentuckians had tra- 
versed in one. They had left so many signs of their 
passing that all the white leaders knew that they were 
courting pursuit. Finally, they had allowed themselves 
to be overtaken at a place the most suitable for their 
style of fighting. These things influenced Todd to call 
a halt. 

The location was as well known to Boone as was 
Boonesborough itself. In the council he explained the 
nature of the ground and predicted an ambuscade along 
the ridge that rose from the river. He counseled cross- 
ing the river up stream and so flanking the Indians. 



Logan to Harrison, Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. Ill, p. 280. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 191 

Boone's advice was not to be disregarded, and two horse- 
men were sent across the river and along the ridge to 
discover, if possible, the suspected ambush. They re- 
turned and reported that the Indians had retired and 
were no longer to be seen. When the white men heard 
this, there was no restraining either officer or man ; they 
spurred their horses into the river and splashed their 
way tumultuously to the other side. The advance, how- 
ever, was not without method. It had already been decided 
that when the enemy was encountered an advance guard 
should attack on horseback and the others dismounted 
should lush up and finish the work when the Indian lines 
were broken. The foot soldiers were to separate into 
three divisions of which Boone was to command the left. 
Trigg the right and Todd the center. Harlan, McGary 
ajid McBride were to lead the advance. 

With this arrangement the Kentuckians advanced up 
the ridge in good order. ^"^ The advance guard had 
come within forty yards of the place where Boone had 
predicted an ambush would be made when they received 
from the hidden Wyandots a volley so furious that all 
but three of the Kentuckians fell. The battle was now 
on and in spite of the surprise of the advance, it went 
at first not unfavorably to the white men. Boone on 
the left fighting heroically drove back his enemy by 
sheer force of valor. But Todd and his men had been 
caught in the open and were annihilated; Trigg on the 
right had been outflanked. As Boone was coolly going 
about his work of destruction he suddenly perceived that 
the right was being doubled back and that the Wyandots 
were surroundinsr him. There was no further thought 



10 Boone to Harrison, Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. Ill, p. 275. 



192 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

of advance nor was there any order given to retreat. 
Out of that flaming wall of fire the Kentuckians broke 
desperatel}', each man for liimself. As they turned, the 
Wyandots broke from cover, threw away their rifles and 
prepared to finish the work with the tomahawk. The 
retreat became a rout ; the rout a slaughter. The Indians 
took possession of the horses and rode to and fro among 
the Kentuckians striking with the tomahawk until their 
insensate souls were satiated with killing. They pursued 
to the vcr}' brink of the water and were only prevented 
from crossing by a terrible fire from a group of men 
who had been rallied on the other side by Benjamin 
Netherlands. The Kentuckians made their way where- 
ever and whenever they could across the river and reach- 
ing the other side, without waiting for consultation, 
plunged panic-stricken into the forest and each for him- 
self made for the nearest station. 

The battle had lasted about five minutes and sixty- 
six men had fallen of the pioneers. Four were captured. 
The Indians had lost ten men and a French leader, 
Le Bute. Todd, Trigg, Harlan and McBride were 
among the slain. No such calamity had ever before be- 
fallen Kentucky. 

Meanwhile Logan had raised the Lincoln militia and 
had advanced to Bryant's ; Colonel Todd was already 
a day's march on his way. Logan learned with dismay 
of the headlong pursuit and hurried with five hundred 
men to anticipate the slaughter he feared. He had 
advanced but a few miles from Bryant's when twenty- 
five fugitives were encountered; from these the details of 
the awful conflict were learned. At this news Logan 
halted his men and throwing out scouts far in advance. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 193 

waited throughout the long dismal day while the fugi- 
tives kept coming into camp. Toward night he turned 
and went back to Bryant's. The news had already 
reached the fort and the ensuing houi's of desolation are 
not to be described in words. Here while the stricken 
families lamented and strong men seemed shocked into 
listlessness, Logan waited. On the twenty-fourth, with 
five hundred men, he began his march to the Lower Licks, 
but when he reached the battlefield the Indians were gone. 
The mutilated bodies of the dead were collected and 
given a common grave. Nothing else could be done. 
Logan returned to Brj'ant's and the battle of Lower 
Blue Licks passed into history. 

In the thoughts of pioneer Kentuckians the battle 
of Lower Blue Licks was the most portentous thing of 
their lives ; those who took part in it never succeeded in 
forgetting its horrors.^ ^ In after years it was talked over 
around the firesides and its incidents were magnified a 
thousand times. ^^ But the topic in which the pioneer 
mind most delighted was tlie problem presented by the 
defeat — what caused it? The Kentuckians were slow to 
admit defeat in a fair fight. They found balm for their 
wounded pride in magnifying the strength of the enemy 
and stressing the fact of an ambuscade. As in the case 
of Bowman's defeat a scapegoat was sought for and 
found in the person of Major McGary. The story was 
put in circulation that McGary had seditiously incited 
the men to cross the river by his taunt that all who were 
not cowards should follow him. This action accorded well 



11 The letters of the commanders and survivors of Lower Blue 
Licks are admirably grouped in the appendix to Colonel Young's 
Battle of Lower Blue Licks. 

12 In Cuming's Tour it is related that 2,000 white men took part 
in the battle and that of these 600 were killed. 



194 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

with the cliaracter of tlie liot-licaded McGary and the 
story was not long in finding a place in history. That 
McGary uttered the words attributed to him is not at 
all inipi'obable ; but that they had any such effect on 
the Kentuckians as tradition relates, it is scarcely pos- 
sible to believe. Boone, Levi Todd, Logan and Clarke 
all made reports of the battle and none of them mention 
McGary in any such role. It is not plausible that if 
McGary's conduct had been so reprehensible, he would 
have escaped censure at the hands of these men. Their 
silence is significant. Moreover, there is much evidence 
to show that McGary was throughout for caution, but 
that when fighting became necessary he did it with his 
accustomed vigor and resolution. Forty years after the 
battle a doubtful author gave the statement of an un- 
known gentleman that McGary had admitted to him his 
fault. History will not permanently accept as true the 
story of a witness so doubtful. There is no respectable 
evidence to prove that IMcGary was in any way more 
than his comrades responsible for the great calamity. 

The truth is that the Kentuckians were outgeneraled 
and outfought. They had no one to blame but them- 
selves. In the Wyandots the}' found an enemy far 
superior to the other Indians in craft and resolution. 
Their operations during 1782 had completely baffled 
the settlers ; they had kept the white men divided while 
they roamed almost at will through the country. When 
encountered they showed a disposition for hand-to-hand 
fighting that amazed the pioneers. In half a dozen con- 
flicts they had shown themselves superior to their white 
antagonists. They had not ambushed the settlers at 
Lower Blue Licks in any real sense of the word. The 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 195 

Kcntuckians had not gone into the battle in confusion, 
but with plans already made. The number of the 
Wyandots was not largely in excess of that of the 
whites. The battle was decided when, after the first 
fire, the Wyandots threw away their rifles and with 
only their tomahawks rushed in hand to hand. Excuses 
notwithstanding, the Kentuckians had met their match — 
and more. 

Simon Girty has suffered at the hands of the his- 
torians less only than McGary. Among the early writ- 
ers he was credited with the command of the Indians 
around Bryant's and at the Licks. Modern writers show 
a tendency to represent him as an ignorant renegade 
entirely without authority. All picture him as a mon- 
ster of depravity. There can be no question now as to 
who was in nominal command around Bryant's. The 
testimony of the Haldimand Papers is incontestable that 
it was Caldwell. But the reports of the Kentucky lead- 
ers make it plain that the real commander was Girty. 
His official position, it was true, was only that of inter- 
preter, but as an adopted child of the Wyandot tribe 
he wielded enormous power and influence. There can 
hardly be a doubt that Girty was the leading spirit in 
the campaign. It must be remembered that nearly all 
Caldwell's Indians were Wyandots. 

The character and reputation of Simon Girty have 
been variously distorted to suit the views of Kentucky 
liistorians. He was bad enough, in all truth, but by 
no means the monster of depravity he is usually repre- 
sented. Born of Irish parents in the most abject pov- 
erty and the most immoral environment, he could hardly 
have escaped being what he was. He had been reared 



196 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

among tlie Indians and was conscious of no disgrace 
when he finally cast his lot among them. He was no 
traitor. He would have been one had he taken any 
other side than he did. He was wildly intemperate and, 
drunk or sober, endowed with a reckless courage that 
made his name a proverb in the w^st. His nature was 
not essentially cruel and he acted often from noble 
impulses ; he saved Kenton from the stake and tried 
to save Crawford. His conduct must alwa3\s be viewed 
as thai of an Indian, for he was Indian more than he was 
white. He was not, as is so often stated, hated or 
despised by the Kentuckians. There is some evidence 
that he was personally popular among them. White 
Indians were not uncommon then and inspired no such 
feeling among the pioneers as among later generations. 
Had Girty been hated by the Kentuckians, he would 
hardly have dared to come within five yards of the 
fort for a conference. His asking if the Kentuckians 
knew him showed his consciousness of the feeling toward 
him. 

Aside from the question of Girty and McGarj' there 
is the additional problem of dissension among the leaders 
of the Kentuckians. That such dissension existed is 
clearly shown by the language used by the different 
Avriters after the battle. McGary in a letter to Clarke 
openly charged that Todd wished by an early pursuit 
to rob Logan of the credit for the expected victory. 
Logan reported to Harrison that the pursuit had been 
rash, and indirectly he blamed the other leaders. After 
the battle Boone and others wrote to Harrison, blaming 
Clarke for inactivity ; Clarke wrote to Harrison, cen- 
suring the leaders — and Todd In particular — and Har- 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 197 

rison finally sent Clarke a most cutting reprimand for 
his conduct. Logan did not escape suspicion. The 
question was asked why he was so dilatory in his move- 
ments. He did not reacli Bryant's till the enemy had 
been gone twenty-four houi's and twelve hours later had 
advanced but five miles. His delay of four days in 
marching to the battlefield is inexplicable. The most 
accommodating of enemies could not have so long 
awaited his convenience. 

The aftermath of the Licks was more comforting to 
the pride of Kentucky. Lashed into action by the re- 
bukes of Harrison, Clarke in November essayed to 
revenge the disaster that he should have prevented. In 
a meeting of the officers held at the Falls shortly after 
the battle, it was decided to invade the Indian country. 
The militia was to gather at Bryant's under Logan and 
at Louisville under Flo3'^d. The two divisions were to 
meet at the mouth of the Licking, and under the com- 
mand of Clarke proceed against the Indian towns on the 
Great Miami. More than one thousand men gathered 
at the appointed rendezvous and moved into Ohio. A 
straggling Indian discovered the advance and gave the 
alarm ; the Indian towns were deserted when Clarke 
arrived. He burnt the towns and sent Logan to per- 
form the same kind office for the British post at the 
head of the Miami. Then, having taken ten scalps, 
seven prisoners and regained two captives, the army of 
one thousand men returned somewhat ingloriously to 
Kentucky. 



198 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 



THE STRUGGLE FOR AUTONOMY. 

TTOR Kentucky the year 1782 liad ended, as it began, 
in bloodshed. But beginning with 1783 it may fairly 
be said that a new era was ushered in. Previous to this, 
the thoughts of the Kentuckians had been directed al- 
most exclusively to matters offensive and defensive against 
the Indians ; subsequently things political and economic 
occupied the greater part of their attention. For with 
the carnage of Blue Licks the energy of the Indians 
seemed to perish wholly and Kentucky was destined not 
again to be visited by hostile war-bands of any great 
size. At the same time the population was growing 
apace, towns began to spring up, forts were gradually 
abandoned for farmhouses and the entire country took 
on the appearance of a long-settled community. In 
these unwonted times of peace the people were at leisure 
to meditate on and discuss their government, to criticize 
its defects and to formulate plans for its improvement. 
Politics, not war, was to occupy the center of the stage 
for a decade. With 1782 the Heroic Age of Kentucky 
history may be said to end. Of the great names of 
earlier days Logan's alone remained undimmed. Clarke 
was sinking into a drunkard, Todd had fallen in battle, 
Kenton, Boone and Harrod had remained hunters or 
become unsuccessful farmers. Floyd was soon to find a 
grave. New names were to be found in the place of 
old ; new interests were come in essentially different from 
those of the last decade. 

By the articles of peace signed in November, 1782, 
the status of Kentucky was confinncd rather than deter- 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 199 

mined. Whatever the paper stipulations might have 
been, by no stretch of the imagination can we conceive 
the Kentuckians permitting themselves to become French, 
Spanish or English. The Mississippi did not become the 
western boundary of the young nation merely by treaty ; 
the retention of the west was the necessary result of 
aggressive settlement beginning when Boone blazed the 
way along the Wilderness Road. Had the treaty of 
Paris left the transmontane lands nominally Spanish or 
English, the western settlers could have been depended 
upon to violate it swiftly and effectually. England, 
at least, knew this fact well and the other nations could 
hardly have been ignorant of it. Nothing done at Paris 
could affect the destinies of the Kentuckians ; their fu- 
ture was not a matter of diplomacy ; they were Vir- 
ginians and could be changed by no power but them- 
selves. No sentiment need be wasted on the generosity 
or shrewdness that extended the United States to the 
Mississippi ; the diplomats merely recognized an unalter- 
able status quo. Within the next few years there was 
much talk in Kentucky about a union with Spain ; it 
was an evidence of discontent rather than an earnest of 
intention. 

Of much greater moment to Kentucky was that ar- 
ticle of the treaty providing that England should sur- 
render her posts in the Northwest. This more than 
anything else secured for Kentucky a cessation of Indian 
attacks. It would perhaps be no exaggeration to say 
that nine-tenths of the Indian depredations during the 
Revolution were instigated from these Englisli posts in 
the Northwest ; their surrender, or the promise of it, 
meant that henceforth the Indians themselves must plan 



200 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

jind support their expeditions. It is significant that 
Kentucky was not again invaded by Indians in any con- 
siderable number. The Indian depredations had been 
phmncd by British brains, financed by British money and 
mitigated by British lunnanity. The withdrawal of Brit- 
ish aid was necessarily accompanied by a cessation of 
Indian hostilities. Yet candor compels the admission 
that the Indian warfare against Kentucky has been mon- 
strously exaggerated. The Indians were not, as is so 
often asserted, the implacable foe of the Kentuckians ; 
the British agents, as tlie Haldimand Papers abundantly 
show, were compelled to put forth enormous efforts to 
rouse the sluggish red men for the warpath. They were 
always reluctant to cross the Ohio and were induced to 
do so only by dint of extraordinary expenditures for 
presents and provisions. Early in their relations with 
the British they had learned that gifts were the wages 
of indifference, and their impatience was never so great 
nor their wratJi so savage that they failed to profit by 
their knowledge. England paid many times over for 
every effort of the Indians in her behalf. ]Moreover, the 
Indians once on the warpath were, for the most part, 
lukewarm and could rarely be incited to vigorous action. 
Notwithstanding the volumes that have been written about 
the Indian atrocities in Kentucky, the country sufFei^ed 
no more therefrom than did Virginia, jNIassachusetts or 
many of the eastern States. As far as war between 
white man and Indian is concerned, Kentucky certainly 
was not a "dark and bloody ground." The name had 
been gained and perhaps deserved long before John 
Finley encamped at Eskippakithiki. 

Equally important toward securing peace for Ken- 
tucky was the cession by Virginia to the Confederation 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 201 

of all her territoiy north of the Ohio River. The Con- 
tinental Congress had found the claim of Virginia to 
the Northwest too shadow}'^ for recognition but real 
enough for transfer. The cession was completed in 
1783 and the Ohio made the northern limit of Virginia's 
sovereignty beyond the mountains. The treaty of Paris 
had withdrawn from the Indians the aid of the British ; 
the action of Virginia left them for a care to the cen- 
tral government. This power in a series of treaties with 
the separate tribes took up energetically and, for the 
most part, successfully the task of appeasing the wrath 
and alienating the territory of the red men. The trans- 
fer of sovereignty redounded to the benefit of Kentucky. 
"N'irginia had not been able to prevent the depredations 
of the Ohio tribes ; now they were forced to live in com- 
parative quiet and Kentucky benefited by the change. 

It would be far from the truth, however, to believe 
that the Kentuckians of 1783 realized that there would 
be no further danger from the Indians. To their minds 
the peril was as great as ever. They were slow to forget 
the carnage of the Licks and persistent in thinking that 
it could have been prevented had Virginia built the 
much-desired forts in northern Kentucky. The failure 
to protect Kentucky had not been entirely due to indif- 
ference on the part of Virginia; Clarke, the ranking 
officer in the west, had neglected, through sloth or dis- 
obedience, to carry out his instructions. From 1780 
until 1786 the question of fortifying northern Kentucky 
was the most vital topic that the Kentuckians had to 
consider; it occupied a much larger share of their atten- 
tion than did the Statehood movement or the agitation 
for the free navigation of the Mississippi. For this 



202 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

reason it is necessary to consider somewhat in detail the 
entire question of how tlie demand arose for the erecting 
of these forts, at what phices they were designed to 
be placed and the reason for the failure to construct 
them. The movement for building a fort at the mouth 
of the Licking originated soon after the great siege of 
Boonesborough and was founded on the belief that such 
a post would do much toward preventing similar inva- 
sions for the future. Representations were made to the 
Virginia authorities to this effect, and in June, 1780, 
as has been related, the Virginia Council ordered the erec- 
tion of the fort on the Licking as well as one on the 
Big Sandy. She ordered a regiment of Virginia troops 
under Colonel Crockett to proceed westward and gar- 
rison the fort. But Clarke was obsessed with the idea 
of fortif^Mng Louisville and did not build the fort at 
the mouth of the Licking. After Byrd's invasion the 
Kentuckians became more than ever convinced that such 
a fort at the Licking was necessary if Kentucky wished 
to prevent Indian attacks. But Clarke continued to 
work on the fortifications at Louisville and to neglect 
the building of the posts desired by the Kentuckians. 
The consequence was that Clarke soon became very un- 
popular with the Kentuckians and a feeling sprang up 
against Louisville in Kentucky that has not disappeared 
even toda}'. The feeling arose that, in addition to the 
fort on the Licking, one ought to be erected at the mouth 
of the Kentucky and another at Limestone. On Sep- 
tember 5, 1781, Clarke, after the failure to make a 
campaign against Detroit, called the three count^'-lieu- 
tenants ^ together at Louisville and requested them to 



1 Clarke MSS., Vol. LI, September 5, 1781, p. 84. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 203 

suggest a plan for action against the Indians. In reply, 
Logan advised that no expedition should be made, but 
that the forts should be built ; if only one fort could 
be erected, it should be placed at the mouth of the Ken- 
tucky. Floyd wished to have a campaign made up the 
JMiami, but also insisted on building the two forts on 
the Licking and Kentucky. The advice of Todd was 
of similar tenor. Finding that Clarke was yet inclined 
to fortify Louisville, the three men set forth their reasons 
for thinking tlie Falls an unsuitable place. ^ First, it 
was not on the Indian road to central Kentucky as were 
the other two places. In the second place, the transpor- 
tation of provisions was much more difficult to Louis- 
ville than to the other places. Finally, Louisville was 
an unhealthful location for a fort. They further rec- 
ommended that the fort at the Kentucky, if built, should 
be garrisoned by regular troops. The entire matter, it 
was agreed, should be laid before the Virginia Assembly. 
In December Governor Harrison wrote to Clarke, in- 
structing him to build the three posts at the Licking, 
the Kentucky and at Limestone, and that sixty-eight 
militia should be assigned to each post.^ In February, 
1782, Clarke wrote to Harrison in a very surly letter 
that he was intending to establish the fort at the Licking 
immediately.* The announcement of his intention, how- 
ever, seemed to consume his entire energy and the fort 
remained unbuilt. The dissatisfaction with Clarke and 
with Virginia was Increasing daily ; the people, of course, 
had no way of knowing that Virginia was sincerely tr}'^- 



2 Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. II, p. 562. 

3 Clarke MSS., Vol. LI, Harrison to Clarke, December 20, 1781, 
p. 101. 

4 Cal Va. St. Papers, Vol. Ill, p. 68. 



204 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

ing to got the forts built. The feeling against Clarke 
was not allayed by the fact that he was persisting in 
his old plan of patrolling the Ohio by rowboats. By 
June, 1782, he had, as he stated in a letter to Har- 
rison, completed two gondolas and a galley.'' The latter 
craft was seventy-three feet long, possessed forty-six 
oars and carried one hundred and ten men. It possessed 
a respectable armament of six four-pounders and one 
two-pounder."' However, the men objected as strenuously 
as ever to doing naval work and a mutiny broke out on 
the galley in July. The larger boat was commonly 
referred to as the Miami galley and strove to attract a 
crew by the liberal terms of ten dollars a month and a 
suit of clothes.^ Before fall came, Clarke had been com- 
pelled to give up the light armed gondolas because the 
men they carried were not sufficiently protected against 
the Indians,^ but the sides of the galley had been made 
four feet high and it continued to patrol the Ohio and 
terrify the Indians for several years, ^ After the battle 
of the Lower Licks in August, Logan, Todd, Boone and 
others wrote vigorous letters to Governor Harrison, con- 
demning Clarke's policy in fortifying Louisville and 
demanding that the forts be built on the Licking and 
at liimestone. This drew from Harrison a letter to 
Clarke, sternly reprimanding him for his failure. ^"^ 
Clarke, in reply, excused himself by saying that Indian 
troubles had prevented the erections of the forts before 
the battle and that he had tried to have them built as 



s Ibid., p. 121. 
olbid., p. 150. 
^ Clarke MSS., Vol. LIT, p. 29. 

8 Ibid., p. 25. 

9 Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. Ill, p. 275. 

10 Clarke MSS., Vol. LII, Harrison to Clarke, October 17, 1782, 
p. 50. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 205 

he returned from the Miami campaign in the autumn, 
but the militia would not enlist. ^^ In the last days of 
the year outcast Cherokees ^^ began to molest the travel- 
ers along the Wilderness Road, and a demand arose for 
a fort to be built at Cumberland Gap.^^ In February 
Harrison instructed Clarke to build the fort at the 
mouth of the Kentucky and give up the other two,^* and 
Clarke, a little later, called on the three counties of 
Kentucky to deliver their taxes into his hands iv order 
to pay the cost of construction ; Lincoln was ordered to 
contribute sixty-five militia, Jefferson, twenty-five, and 
Fayette, ten.^^ All these tilings the counties promptly 
neglected to do and the forts remained unbuilt. In the 
summer of 1783 Clarke was relieved of his commission, 
and with the cession of the Ohio country to the Confed- 
eration the same year, Virginia definitely abandoned the 
long and vain attempt to fortify northern Kentucky. ^^ 
But the discontent of the Kentuckians was a permanent 
thing. Mutterings were heard and men began to say 
that if A^irginia were unwilling to protect them they 
were entitled to a government that would. The idea of 
separate Statehood became more current, and although 
the fear of the Indians gradually died away, the move- 
ment for autonom}"^, once begun, did not decrease. The 
beginnings of Kentucky's struggle for autonomy lay in 
Clarke's failure to build the forts for defending the 
exposed frontier. 



11 Cal. Va. 8t. Papers, Vol. Ill, p. 345. 
^2ibid., p. 384. 
^3lbid., p. 406. 

14 Clarke MSS., Vol. LII, Harrison to Clarke, February 27, 1783, 
76. 

15 Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. Ill, p. 476. 

i« Clarke MSS., Vol. LII, Harrison to Clarke, July 2, 1783, p. 88. 



206 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Mcanwliile, in March, 1783, the name Kentucky had 
been revived in the creation of the Judicial District of 
Kentucky. This district comprised the three counties 
of Jefferson, Fayette and Lincohi, and was called into 
existence by the need of a Court of Appellate Jurisdic- 
tion nearer than Richmond. By the provision of the 
act the District of Kentucky was to have a Supreme 
Court with one chief justice and two associate justices. 
There was to be, also, a clerk and an attorney-general. 
To the last-named position Walker Daniel was appointed. 
John IVIay became clerk, John Floyd, Samuel McDowell 
and George Muter, judges. Near Crow's Station a new 
town was established for the place of holding court, and 
became, in effect, the capital of the District. It was 
christened Danville in honor of the attorney general. 

The inhabitants of Kentucky at this time numbered 
30,000 and increasing immigration was fast filling the 
land. With such a population, a fertile soil and a well- 
ordered government, Kentucky, it would seem, might 
well feel secure of its future. There were, however, two 
ills that were none the less potent that they were largely 
imaginary. One was the dread of the Indian invasion, 
the other, the lack of a market for the Kentucky prod- 
ucts. The fear of another Indian invasion was kept 
alive by constantly occurring depredations. The In- 
dians, in small bands, numbering oftentimes not more than 
a half dozen, stole in and out of the land, stealing the 
horses, carrying off provisions and occasionally murder- 
ing the settlers. One such marauding band killed John 
Floyd in March, 1783, and the pioneers were kept con- 
stantly alarmed by minor outrages. The evil was in- 
creased by the action of the land speculators who, in 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 207 

order to force clown the price of land, did their utmost 
to keep the country in a turmoil. 

That Kentucky in 1783 had no products to send to 
market did not at all deter the Kentuckians from clam- 
oring loudly for a place in which to market them. To 
anyone acquainted with the inherent western character- 
istic of imagining greatly and talking at length, this 
condition will not appear anomalous. Kentucky was not 
producing enough even for home consumption, and if 
she had possessed a market could not have utilized it 
without supernatural assistance. Yet the speeches of 
her orators and politicians, numerous then as now, were 
weighted with reference to her enormous exports and 
mai*velous commerce. But the only markets to which 
their produce could have gone was New Orleans, and 
New Orleans was a Spanish post closed as completely 
against western trade as were the ears of His Most 
Christian Majesty to all the allurements of the Evil One. 
To the Kentuckians the closing of the New Orleans as a 
market showed conclusively that their commerce was im- 
portant and a market necessary. To the Spanish the 
desire of Kentuckians for a market showed conclusively 
the duty of the elect to make New Orleans a closed 
port. The entire absence of commerce neither prevented 
the regulations of Spain nor tempered the wrath of the 
Kentuckians. Pressure was brought to bear on Virginia 
that she demand through the central government that 
Spain should open up both New Orleans and the Mis- 
sissippi to western trade. The failure of Virginia to 
secure this and the refusal of Spain to grant it inflamed 
the wrath of the Kentuckians against both. This took 
the shape against Spain in an open threat of violence 



208 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

and against Virginia in an increased desire for separation. 
How long it would have taken the separation move- 
ment to mature under normal conditions there are no 
means of conjecturing; Indian trouhles brought it swiftly 
to a crisis. Since 1776 over eight hundred and fifty 
men had been killed by the Indians in Kentucky, and 
as far as the settlers could see, things were in danger 
of getting worse instead of better.^" The pay of the 
militia was withheld for indefinite periods according to 
the financial condition of Virginia ; ^* the men were dis- 
trustful of their leaders and the leaders of their men ; 
since the retirement of George Rogers Clarke there was 
no officer in Kentucky with authority to call out the 
troops from the entire District ; finally, the Cherokees on 
the south began to be troublesome.^^ Shawnese and 
Cherokees were accustomed to steal in and out of the 
country, stealing the horses and murdering the settlers. 
Warfare of this kind was more irritating, if not more 
deadly, than wholesale invasions. Formerly the Kentuck- 
ians had been able to relieve their feeling and punish 
their tormentors b}^ invading the Indian towns, but now 
tlie Shawnese territory was the property of the Confed- 
eration and the Cherokees were dwellers in the domain 
of North Carolina. There was nothing the Kentuckians 
could in legality do, and they chafed under the inac- 
tivity. As was natural, they ascribed all their evils to 
the polic}' of the Virginia government and the desire 
for separation that had been originated by Clarke's fail- 
ure to construct the forts in northern Kentucky was 



i7C'a7. Va. St. Papers, Vol. Ill, Steele to Harrison, September 
12, 1782, p. 303. 

^s Ibid., Vol II, Montgomery to Nelson, August 10, 1781, p. 815. 
19 Ibid., Vol. HI, Logan to Harrison. August 11, 1783, p. 522. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 209 

increased by Virginia's inability to protect them from 
Indian marauders. In 1784 the feeling came to a head 
and resulted in one of the ringleaders in the separation 
movement being summoned before the District Court and 
punished.^" There was no Virginia statute that fitted 
such a crime, but the judges applied an obsolete law 
against a bearer of false news and fined the delinquent, 
Pomeroy, two thousand pounds of tobacco. James Wil- 
kinson exerted himself vigorously at this time to stem 
the Statehood movement and was very active against 
Pomero}'. The Court expected that by this example the 
agitation might be suppressed, but it had no such effect, 
and it was not long before Wilkinson himself was utter- 
ing words more seditious than he had condemned in 
Pomeroy. A great part of the inhabitants of Kentucky, 
in fact, were not native Virginians, but had come in from 
Carolina or Pennsylvania and were by nature inclined to 
opposition to the parent State. ^^ 

In the autumn of 1784 a report reached Colonel 
Logan, the senior officer in Kentucky, that the Cherokees 
were meditating an invasion of Kentucky. The report 
was a canard and in all probability the work of the land 
speculators ; it is not to Logan's credit that he believed 
it. That officer, however, straightway called a meeting 
of the militia officers in November to formulate plans for 
protection. The officers once assembled were strongly in 
favor of making an expedition southward before the 
Cherokees could invade Kentucky. Upon reflection it 
occurred to them that the law of Virginia made no pro- 
vision for the invasion of a sister State by a colonel of 



■^olbid., Vol. Ill, Daniel to Harrison, May 21, 1784, p. 684. 
21 Ibid., Vol. Ill, Speed to Harrison, May 22, 1784, p. 588. 



210 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

militia, and the expedition perforce had to be abandoned. 
Moved by this irritating defect in the Virginia statutes, 
the officers decided to request Virginia to agree to a 
separation and give the Kentuckians an opportunity to 
deal with the Indians as the exigencies and their own 
fine sense of justice should determine. They called on 
each militia company to send one delegate to Danville in 
December and formulate plans for action. ^^ This sec- 
ond meeting took place December 2Tth, with Charles 
Fleming, chairman, and Thomas Todd, clerk. The dele- 
gates to this meeting deliberated at length for ten days, 
and, in addition to asserting the necessity for a separa- 
tion from Virginia, they issued an address to the people 
of Kentucky, suggesting that at the time of the regular 
election for the Assembly next April they should, also, 
select delegates to meet in May at Danville and take 
further steps toward separation. Twenty-five delegates 
were to be chosen by the three counties in proportion to 
their population. ^^ 

One or two things need to be noted in regard to this 
meeting of the militia officers. In the first place their 
action in deciding for a separation from Virginia was 
evidently not necessitated by any exigency then existing. 
The militia officers were all men who had seen active 
service against the Indians and who were well acquainted 
with Indian conditions north and south. They could 
hardly have escaped knowing that the reported Cherokee 
invasion was a myth ; even if the invasion occurred, Logan 
had full authority to direct a defensive campaign within 
the limits of the District. With proper vigilance such 



22 Littell, Political Transactions In and Concerning Kentucky, 
p. 15. 

23 Lettres d'un Cultivateur Americain, Vol. Ill, p. 4.38. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 211 

a campaign would have effected quite as much as tlie 
contemplated invasion. The fear of the Cherokees was 
evidently not a reason but an excuse for their action ; 
the military officers had made up their minds that they 
were going to have autonomy. The people were not by 
any means so decided. The second fact to be noticed 
is the action of the meeting in calling for delegates to 
be elected in proportion to the population instead of by 
the legal Virginia method of giving each county equal 
representation. By this ingenious plan Lincoln County, 
where the feeling against Virginia was the strongest, 
secured more representatives than she otherwise would 
have done. Much capital has been made of this action 
by Kentucky historians ; it has been cited as a remark- 
able example of the inherent desire that animates all 
Kentuckians for social justice. It is, however, rather an 
indication that the art of politics rose early and flour- 
ished greatly in Kentucky. 

The "Second" Convention, as it is usually termed, met 
in Danville May 23, 1785,^* and organized by electing 
Samuel McDowell, president. After a week of delibera- 
tion they prepared a petition to Virginia, asking for 
Statehood and issued a call for another convention to be 
held, to which the delegates were to be chosen in pro- 
portion to the population. The petition to Virginia, 
after being prepared, was prudently left for the next 
convention to deliver. It never saw the light of day. 
The address, however, was made to the people and 
is even today not without interest in composition and 
subject-matter.^^ After summing up in terms of faultless 
rhetoric the principles of philosophy as enunciated by 



2* LittelJ, Political Transactions, Appendix I. 
25 Ibid., p. 18. 



212 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Thomas Jefferson, tlic author proceeded to give seven 
reasons why Kentucky should separate from Virginia. 
The inability to call out the militia, the lack of executive 
power in the District, the disadvantage of government 
from Richmond and the absence of proper protection 
from the Indians were the chief complaints. As an after- 
thought allusion was made to the increase of taxes now 
at hand. James Wilkinson was the supposed author of 
both the petitions and the address to the people. 

Meanwhile Nelson County had been formed out of 
Jefferson and was given representation in the "Third" 
Convention.^*' This convention met August 8th and was 
composed of thirty members. It is significant of the 
new era that Benjamin Logan was the only one of the 
old pioneers elected as a member. The name of James 
Wilkinson appears now for the first time prominently in 
Kentucky affairs, destined in the next few years to loom 
large in the life of the District. The two men are typi- 
cal ; Logan of the old regime now rapidU^ passing, and 
Wilkinson of the new just now being ushered in. 

Logan had come to Kentucky in 1775 and had enjoyed 
undisputed leadership from the first. Physically he was 
a giant and possessed enormous strength. His courage 
was on a par witli his strength, and in pioneer times 
there were current innumerable stories of his daring 
deeds. He was a Presbyterian in faith, and no man 
throughout a long life more sturdily lived up to his 
religion than he. Simple-hearted, fearless and straight- 
fonvard, he deserves his place as the first among the 
Kentucky pioneers. His name inspired confidence among 
his contemporaries. If an Indian expedition was under 



26 Henjng, Statutes, Vol. II, p. 469. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 218 

consideration, it was Logan who gathered the men and 
led the charge ; if there was need of counsel or advice, 
everyone waited for Logan to speak. Loved and es- 
teemed by the Kentuckians from the time he entered the 
land until his death, he deserves the tribute given him 
by a Kentucky historian: "Mentally and physically Logan 
was great." 

Wilkinson had but one trait in common with Logan — 
fearlessness. Whereas Logan towered over six feet, 
Wilkinson was below medium height. Logan was simple 
and homely in speech, Wilkinson was suave and adroit. 
Of pleasing manners and acute intellect, he was in his 
time the most popular man in Kentucky. He was above 
all things else a politician. He had been born in Mary- 
land and had seen much service in the Revolution and 
was suspected of complicity in the Gates embroglio.^^ He 
had displayed considerable military capacity and had 
been raised to the rank of brigadier-general. After the 
Revolution he had entered the service of Pennsylvania 
and had come to Louisville as a merchant in the autumn 
of 1784. His peculiar talents soon brought him into 
prominence in the District and he played a great part 
in Kentucky's struggle for Statehood. As was to be 
expected, he made many and powerful enemies, one of 
whom in his character of historian has done much to 
blacken his name. The character of Wilkinson is a most 
fascinating study. He has for the most part been de- 
picted as base and unscrupulous. He has been branded 
as a traitor prepared to serve Spain while pretending 
to labor zealously for his own country."'^ That he 
received money from the Spanish treasury is not to be 



27 Wilkinson, Memoirs, Chap. I. 

28 McCaleb, Aaron Burr. 



214 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

doubted. To one unacquainted with frontier life in the 
west the actions of Wilkinson will appear inexplainable 
or hopelessly base. But Wilkinson was but one of many ; 
Kentucky contained hundreds of men of the type. Nor 
was the type considered then either extraordinary or 
bad. The rule of action for such men was to look keenly 
after the interests of their individual selves. They con- 
sidered it none the less meritorious that this fascinating 
occupation sometimes led them to the brink of treason. 
According to their ethical standards it was no wrong to 
treat with an enemy, if the promises Mere not meant to 
be kept. It was not base to accept bribes, if the bribe- 
labor was not performed. It was no disgrace to be a 
pensioner of Spain, if the pensioner continued to serve 
his country. This dallying with Spain was common and 
was considered good conduct, inasmuch as it "fooled" 
Spain and resulted in the accumulating of many shekels 
by the individual Kentuckians. In such light must Wil- 
kinson be considered. That he sold himself to Spain is 
indisputable ; that he never did the work for which he 
received the pay is equally indisputable ; that he ever 
purposed or intended to do such work, no one that un- 
derstands the Kentucky of 1785 will for a moment 
believe. His entire life was a continued and exclusive 
looking after himself, and if in the course of it he received 
money from the enemy, neither the enemy was benefited 
nor Kentucky hurt. 

The "Third" Convention met in August with twenty- 
six of the thirty delegates in attendance. ^^ After 



29 The proceedings of the numerous conventions in the 80's are 
given and discussed at large in John Mason Brown's Political Be- 
ginnings of Kentucky, in Littell's Political Transactions in and 
Concerning Kentucky and in Green's Spanish Conspiracy. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 215 

making McDowell president of the convention, they took up 
the petition to Virginia left over to them from the preced- 
ing convention. In a committee headed by Mr. Muter the 
petition received some amendments and alterations, after 
which it was reported to the convention and unanimously 
adopted. It is noticeable that Virginia was petitioned 
to acknowledge the independence and sovereignty of 
Kentucky ; admission to the Union was not suggested. 
Admission to the Union, in fact, could not be considered 
as an advantage by any people in the year of grace, 1785. 
An address was also made to the Kentucky people by the 
customary frontier method of mailing it in manuscript 
to the doors of the courthouses. Chief Justice George 
Muter and the District Attorney, Harry Innes, were 
delegated to bear the petition to the Virginia Assembly. 
These two delegates reached Richmond in November, 
1785, and at once began work toward having their peti- 
tion granted. They found the Virginia lawmakers sur- 
prisingl}' pliable as far as separation was concerned. On 
January 6, 1786, they passed the first Enabling Act 
providing for the separation of Kentucky on certain 
conditions.^" These conditions were that there should be 
no change in the boundary ; that Kentucky assume a 
part of the State debt ; that land rights remain un- 
changed ; that residents and nonresidents be equal in the 
matter of taxation ; that the Ohio be open to navigation ; 
and that all disputes between Virginia and Kentucky be 
settled by arbitration. For the accepting or rejecting 
of these conditions, a convention should be held at Dan- 
ville on the first Monday in September, and, if accept- 
ing, Kentucky should become a State at some date prior 



30 Hening, Vol. XII, p. 87. Madison's letters during this period 
reflect the entire A\illingness of Virginia to grant a separation to 
Kentucky. 



216 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

to September 1, 1787, provided that Congress, before 
June, 1787, had admitted her to the Union. 

This last provision aroused the ire of the Kentucky 
politicians, of whom Wilkinson was deservedly the leader. 
They did not desire admission to the Union, but imme- 
diate and unconditional independence. Wilkinson and 
others announced themselves as candidates for the 
"Fourth" Convention on a platform calling for imme- 
diate independence. Wilkinson was opposed by John 
Marshall in a heated campaign, but was elected ; his 
enemies asserted that his election was secured only by 
illegal acts on the part of the militia officers at the 
ballot box. But when the convention was called together 
in Danville on the twenty-sixth of September, it was 
speedily discovered that there was no quorum present for 
the transaction of business. The cause of such a con- 
dition of things was to be found in Indian troubles. 

The Indians north of the Ohio River had never ceased 
to be troublesome. After the Northwest territory had 
been ceded by Virginia to the Confederation, the latter 
government had appointed Clarke, Butler and Lee as 
commissioners to make treaties with the Indians within 
its bounds. ^''^ In January, 1785, at Fort Mcintosh, 
they made a treaty with the Wyandots, Delawares, Chip- 
pewas and Ottawas ; one year later at Fort Finney peace 
was made with the Shawnese. For the moment, however, 
the making of peace seemed to increase the virulence of 
Indian hostilities. They literally swarmed over the land, 
stealing the horses and cattle, murdering the settlers and 
exasperating the Kentuckians beyond measure. In the 
spring of 1786, a band of seventy outcast Chcrokees, 



31 Butterfield, Clarke's Conquest of the Illinois, p. 497. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 217 

called Chickamaugas, moved north and settled beyond 
the Ohio River, whence they gave their entire energies 
to the harassing of the Kentucky settlements.^^ In 
April of this year Logan wrote to Governor Henry of 
Virginia, complaining bitterly of the Indian depredations 
and suggesting that a campaign be made against them. 
He gave his opinion that Clarke, then residing at Louis- 
ville, was the proper man to lead the campaign. Clarke 
was just then recovering from a sickness, the origin of 
whicji Logan charitably refrained from mentioning. Gov- 
ernor Henry thereupon instructed Logan to call a 
meeting of the field officers and take such measures as 
M'ere necessary to protect themselves from the Indians. ^^ 
These instructions wei'e given in May, and as the sug- 
gestion to make Clarke leader had not been disapproved 
by the Governor, Logan called a meeting of the officers 
for the second of August, with the avowed intention of 
placing Clarke in charge of the militia.^^ Henry had told 
them to do what was necessary to protect themselves, 
and to their minds this authorized them to lead an expe- 
dition across the Ohio if they thought best. While the 
officers were waiting for the time of meeting, there came to 
their hands a petition from Jefferson County that the militia 
of the entire district be called out to aid her against the 
Indians. "^^ This appeal was signed by fifty-four original 
settlers of the county and George Rogers Clarke's name was 
in the number. The entire district, in fact, was demanding 
that something be done, and when the meeting was finally 
called to order at Harrodsburg on the second of August 



32 Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. IV, p. 119. 

33 Ibid., p. 120. 
^ilbuL, p. 155. 

3r. Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. IV, p. 160. 



218 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

no time was lost in placing Clarke in control and deciding 
upon a campaign against the northern Indians.^''' What- 
ever scruples the officers may have had in regard to leading 
a Virginia anny into foreign territory were easily over- 
come by an opinion of the District Court that such an 
expedition was legal. ''^ That Clarke had been dismissed 
from the Virginia line, had become a notorious drunkard 
and an object of suspicion to the Kcntuckians did not at 
all prevent them from selecting him as their leader. 

The invading army was to consist of two thousand men 
and they were ordered to rendezvous at Clarkesville oppo- 
site Louisville. Yet when the time came to go not more 
than half that number could be persuaded to march and 
these went reluctantly, having no confidence in Clarke. From 
the beginning disaster and mismanagement attended the 
undertaking.^^ The troops marched overland to Vincennes 
and awaited there the arrival of the provisions. These 
had been loaded on nine keel boats and started to Vincennes 
by way of the Ohio and the Wabash. But low water on 
the latter stream delayed them nine days and when they 
arrived at Vincennes the discontented army found that half 
of the provisions were spoiled. Logan had been left behind 
in Kentucky to lead a force against the Shawnese. Clarke's 
open intemperance had alienated the loyalty of officers and 
men, and a rumor that he had proposed terms to the 
Indians spread through the rank and file and brought the 
fermenting rebellion to a crisis. Three hundred men de- 
serted and returned to Kentucky. Clarke had to content 
himself with remaining at Vincennes where his high-handed 
conduct of affairs soon brought down upon him the wrath 



36 Ibid., p. 166. 

37 Ibid., p. 195. 

38 Butterfield, Clarke's Conquest of the Illinois, p. 606. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 219 

of Virginia and the Confederation. Meanwhile Logan 
had collected seven hundred and ninety men and led them 
against the Shawnese with his customary skill and good 
fortune. ^^ He was gone twenty daj's, burned the Shawnese 
towns, killed a number of warriors, took numerous prisoners 
and returned rapidly and successfully. Logan's success, 
however, was as unpopular as was Clarke's failure. While 
Logan himself was doubtless guiltless of misconduct, his 
lieutenants, and notably Patterson, aroused the ire of the 
Kentuckians by their assumption of authority. ^^ It was 
charged and proven that there was much impressing of 
private property for the campaign and that even some of 
the militia had been sold into slavery. In a letter to Henry, 
Colonel Todd asked for an investigation into the non- 
success of Clarke's arniy."*^ Altogether it was a long time 
before the Kentuckians forgot the animosities of this un- 
happy campaign. 

The "Fourth" Convention had all this time been sitting 
at Danville without a quorum. The members present were 
far from idle. They had prepared and sent to the Vir- 
ginia Assembly in the care of John Marshall a memorial 
setting forth their discontent with the Enabling Act and 
the impossibility now of fulfilling its conditions regarding 
the time of separation ; they requested a modification. The 
Virginia Assembly thereupon passed the second Enabling 
Act. B}' the provisions of this act Kentucky was to become 
a separate State in January, 1789, if Congress admitted 
it to the Union before July 4, 1788. It also called for 
another convention to be held in Danville on the third Mon- 
day in September. VV^hen the militia of Logan's and 

39 Cal. Va. St. Papers, Vol. IV, p. 204. 
*olbid., p. 186. 
*i76*d., p. 182. 



220 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

Clarke's armies returned to Kentucky, a quorum was ob- 
tained in the convention only in time, according to the 
second Enabling Act, to adjourn. 

The land was already fermenting with discontent over 
the luckless expedition of Clarke and this fresh delay in 
the Statehood movement added to the irritation. Wilkin- 
son and his friends declared for innnediate independence 
without regard to membership in the Union. To make 
matters worse a "Committee of Correspondence" made up 
of Pittsburg gentlemen, sent a communication to Kentucky 
declaring that John Jay, the secretary of state, and Don 
Gardoqui, the Spanish minister, were negotiating for the 
surrender to Spain of the Mississippi. This truthful rumor 
Wilkinson with ready oratory transmuted into a reality. A 
convention was called to protest against the outrage, but 
the delegates when they came to meet found that the said 
outrage had entirely failed to materialize.^^ 

The "Fifth" Convention met in September and again 
went through the solemn form of petitioning Virginia for 
separation."*'' The}^ also sent a petition to Congi'ess asking 
for admission to the Union and prevailed on Virginia to 
send one of the Kentucky delegation, John Brown, to Con- 
gress as district representative. But when Brown reached 
Philadelphia he found the old Confederation already mori- 
bund. Congress was willing to do nothing but wait for 
the new government to go into effect. The time named in 
the second Enabling Act for the admission of Kentucky 
passed without the Kentucky memorial being acted upon. 
Meanw'hile the Kentuckians had elected a convention to 
frame a Constitution. This convention assembled at Dan- 



42 Littell, PoUtical Transactions, Appendix VIII. 

43 Ibid., p. 3'2. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 221 

ville July 28, 1788, with Samuel McDowell as president. 
Hardly were they organized for business before a letter was 
received from Brown reporting his failure and ascribing it 
to the efforts of the New England representatives who were 
influenced by jealousy of the rapidly growing West. He 
mentioned an interview he had had with Don Gardoqui in 
which the Spanish minister had offered many privileges to 
Kentucky if she would set up an independent government. 
The convention after a debate of five days issued a call for 
another convention to be held in November at Danville. 
The election that followed was bitterly contested between 
the Court party headed by members of the District Court 
and the Country party which was in favor of conservative 
action. The result was a victory for the latter and when 
the Convention — the "Seventh" — met in November, the 
Court party found itself in the minority. Wilkinson and 
Brown were both members of the convention and did their 
utmost to secure an immediate declaration of independence. 
Their influence was great. Brown had long been a member 
of the Virginia Assembly and possessed desei*vedly the con- 
fidence of his people. Wilkinson was now more popular 
than ever. He had taken a cargo of ham, flour and to- 
bacco on flat boats to New Orleans in June, 1787, and sold 
it for a great advance over Kentucky prices. ^^ There can 
be no doubt but that he made arrangements with the 
Spanish Governor Miro to detach Kentucky from the Union 
in return for a pension and liberal trading privileges for 
himself. There can, likewise, be no doubt in the minds of 
those who understand western character that Wilkinson 
had not the slightest intention of keeping faith. He was, as 
he later termed it, "bluffing" for his own financial gain. He 



** Ck>Ilin.s, Vol. I, p. 21. 



222 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

remained in July and August at New Orleans and started 
home in September. Like most travelers of that time, he 
came by sea to Baltimore and then overland to Kentucky 
where he made his appearance in February, 1788, riding in 
a coach drawn b}^ six horses, possessed of great funds and 
a signed pass from IMiro that he could bring any cargo 
he wished to New Orleans without paying duty. He soon 
interested Innes, the district attorney', and Sebastian, one 
of the district judges, in his plans and the evidence seems 
to show that they also became pensioners of Spain with 
the same motives as Wilkinson. 

The various conventions and their efforts to achieve 
Statehood were not the only matters that claimed the atten- 
tion of the Kentuckians at this period ; in fact, the entire 
movement for autonomy occupied but a minor place in the 
thoughts of the people. It was a movement in which the 
politicians of the district were keenly interested, but the 
Kentuck}'^ people then, as now, were little disposed to be 
guided by their politicians and remained for the most part 
passive, notwithstanding the great efforts to arouse their 
interest and their passions. No greater misconception 
could possibly be had of the true state of affairs in Ken- 
tucky at this time than to represent the people as being in 
a state of constant excitement over the Statehood move- 
ment; it interested them only intermittently and their at- 
tention and thoughts were commonly directed to other 
things. Kentucky was beginning to develop a commerce 
of her own and her people were fast spreading over the 
entire district. As the people scattered and trade grew 
greater a demand arose that the rivers should be provided 
with ferries and that roads should be established over which 
goods might be ti-ansported. In October, 1785, the Yir- 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 223 

ginia Assembly passed an act establishing three addi- 
tional ferries over the Kentucky River and two over the 
Ohio in Jefferson County.*"^ The provision for ferries over 
the Ohio indicate that population and trade were begin- 
ning to extend from Kentucky northward into the Indian 
territory. One year later the Assembly passed an act 
providing for a State road to be built from Lexington to 
the falls of the Great Kanawha and to be completed in 
three years. "*** As provision had already been made for a 
road from the Kanawha to Richmond, Kentucky was to 
be given direct communication with the Virginia capital. ^^ 

As the population of Kentucky continued to increase, 
Virginia met the need for closer government by a multi- 
plication of the counties. In October, 1785, Bourbon was 
fonned from Fayette County and Lincoln was subdivided 
into Lincoln, Madison and Mercer. The next year a still 
further division was made by forming Mason from Bour- 
bon and Woodford from Fayette. The creation of these 
new county governments made it possible to organize more 
effectively the militia of the district and to provide for a 
better maintenance of order and distribution of justice.^^ 
Another important step was taken in October, 1788, when 
the Assembly formed the Kentucky counties into a district 
with one representative in Congress. 

Military affairs also occupied no little part of the at- 
tention of the Kentuckians during 1786 and 1787. In 
iNIarch, 1787, while Colonel Logan was absent in Rich- 
mond, Captain John Logan '*^ raised a company of one 
hundred and thirty men and led them into Tennessee on 



43 Hening, Vol. XII, p. 88. 

id Ibid., p. 282. 

*-!lbid., p. 218. 

48 Ibid., pp. 653, 658, 663. 

4» Cat. Va. St. Papers, Vol. IV, p. 256. 



224 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

the trail of a band of marauding Clicrokees. He aimed 
to attack the Cherokee town of Crow Town, but missed his 
way and fell in with a band of Chickamaugas. To the 
Kentuckians in their present temper this seemed a special 
dispensation of Providence, and they promptly made use 
of it. Seven of the Indians were killed. Then the Ken- 
tuckians returned home, leaving a trail of furious Indians 
behind them. Hardl}' were they gone when some forty 
of the Chickamaugas set out for Kentucky to avenge the 
death of their kinsmen."''" Happily they were met by the 
Indian trader Martin and were persuaded to abandon the 
warpath. This expedition of Logan's was like that of 
Clarke's in the preceding year in that it had been an illegal 
invasion of foreign territory. As it was, Virginia was 
prompt to frown upon such measures, and in INIay the Gov- 
ernor sent positive instructions to the Kentucky officers 
that the militia under no conditions was to be led out of 
the district. After that the militia officers contented them- 
selves with plans for defense and did not again cross 
the boundary. ""^^ In February, 1787, they called out two 
companies of militia for permanent service, one to guard 
Limestone, which had become a great landing place for 
the immigrants to Kentucky, and another to range the 
frontier of Fayette in a search of prowling Indians. Muter 
and Innes recommended to the Governor in the early spring 
that he should appoint four Indian commissioners to give 
their entire time to the management of Indian affairs in 
Kentucky. Randolph did not take the advice, but con- 
tented himself with a message to Congress, asking that 
Virginia be given permission to chastise the Indians that 



60 Ibid., p. 261. 

Bi Cat. Va. St. Papers, Vol. IV, pp. 237-427. Passim. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 225 

were harassing Kentucky, but nothing came of the request. 
In the midst of these exasperations there came instructions 
from Virginia for the punishment of Clarke and Logan 
for undertaking the campaign of 1786, and the district 
attorney', Innes, contributed toward the fcehng the mih- 
tary had for Virginia by refusing to execute the order. 
In April, 1788, the Indians again became troublesome and 
a meeting of the field officers was called at Danville. They 
called out three hundred and sixty-six of the militia for 
permanent duty and enlisted a special force of sixty-six 
scouts to hunt for Indians. As a result of these vigorous 
measures, Kentucky enjoyed a degree of peace for the 
next few months that she had not known for many years. 
Mention must be made of two events that were subjects 
of interest to the Kentuckians of this period. One was 
the settlement of Ohio and the other was the formation of 
the State of Franklin by the people of Tennessee, who 
were living under much the same conditions as were the 
Kentuckians. Ohio had acquired a quasi-Constitution by 
the Ordinance of 1787, and the activities of the Ohio Land 
Company and its subsidiary, the Scioto Company, soon 
resulted in bringing settlers into the land. This was a two- 
fold advantage to Kentucky : it interposed a barrier be- 
tween the Indians and the Kentuckians and it placed a line 
of settlers along the route that their trade took in going 
to Philadelphia. It would have been no more than natural 
if Kentucky had been influenced by the example of Ten- 
nessee to declare its independence. Virginia, whose wish 
it was that Kentucky should not have separation until 
provision had been made for taking her into the Union, 
feared for the effect that the example of Franklin might 
have. Pressure was brouerht to bear on the infant State 



226 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

and ^'il•ginia received assurances from the de facto Frank- 
lin government tliat Kentucky would not be supported by 
her in a course that Virginia feared. That there ever was 
any danger that Kentucky would allow herself to be in- 
fluenced by the example of Franklin is not credible to 
anyone who understands the nature of the genus Kentuckian. 
It was much more likely that the Kentuckians would be 
influenced by Spanish promises. 

In the "Seventh" Convention Brown declared that Spain 
stood ready to extend various commercial privileges to 
Kentucky if she were independent. Wilkinson told of his 
trip to New Orleans in the summer of 1787 and read a 
length}' memorial on the subject of trade with that city. 
Wilkinson was given a vote of thanks by the convention, 
which, after drafting an address to Virginia and another 
to the people of Kentucky, adjourned. Virginia in the 
meantime had heard of the inaction of Congress in admit- 
ting Kentucky and had passed the third Enabling Act, 
December 29, 1788.''^ The act, after calling for another 
convention to meet in July, 1789, had provided that Ken- 
tucky, in becoming a separate State, should assume a part 
of the domestic debt of Virginia and should continue de- 
pendent on her as to the lands given by Virginia to her 
soldiers in Kentucky. 

To these two provisions the Kentuckians had no inten- 
tion of submitting, and when the "Eighth" Convention 
met, July 20, 1789, its first act was to send a protest 
to Virginia and ask for a modification of the terms. Vir- 
ginia readily complied, passed a fourth Enabling Act omit- 
ting the obnoxious provisions and called a convention for 
July 26, 1790. Kentucky was to become independent of 



62 Hening, Vol. XII, p. 788. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 227 

Virginia on a day to be fixed by the "Ninth" Convention 
provided Congress had previously admitted her to the 
Union, It was to be the duty of the "Ninth" Convention 
to call another for the purpose of framing a Constitution 
for the new State. 

The "Ninth" Convention named June 1, 1792, as the 
date of separation, issued a call for the Constitutional 
Convention and adjourned after sending a memorial to the 
new Federal government, asking for admission to the Union. 
Washington, now president, recommended the admission of 
the new State. February 1st, Congress passed the requisite 
act, and on June 1, 1792, having framed a Constitution 
and elected Isaac Shelby as first governor, Kentucky passed 
from a district into a State and became a member of the 
Union. 

During the last two or three years preceding the sepa- 
ration of Kentucky from Virginia the district had lived 
in comparative peace as far as the Indians were concerned. 
The Indians had now even ceased to penetrate into the 
interior of Kentucky at all, even for horse stealing, and 
confined their activities to harassing travelers on the two 
main routes into Kentucky, the Wilderness Road and the 
Ohio River. A summary stop was put to the Wilderness 
Road depredations in December, 1790, w^ien the county- 
lieutenants of Mercer, Madison and Lincoln were instructed 
to order out a guard of thirty men alternately to take their 
station at Cumberland Gap and protect the travelers. The 
efforts to prevent the marauding on the Ohio River or to 
avenge it was more protracted. In September, 1790, the 
Federal government placed General Harmar in command 
of an expedition against the Miami villages. A detach- 
ment of three hundred militia under Colonel Hardin joined 



228 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

liini at Fort Wasliington at the mouth of tlie Licking and 
the army marched northward, only to meet with a disas- 
trous defeat at tlic hands of the Indians led by Big Turtle. 
The conduct of the Kentucky militia in this battle was dis- 
graceful, and was exceeded only by the rashness of their 
leader, Hardin. But with characteristic western disposition 
they refused to take the blame and insisted that Harmar 
had been the cause of the defeat. 

The Federal government now appointed a Board of 
War to reside in Kentucky, with authority to call out the 
Kentuckians for service against the Indians. In May, 
1791, this Board ordered an expedition against the Wabash 
Indians and gave the command of it to General Charles 
Scott, with Wilkinson as second in command. Seven hun- 
dred mounted men composed this army, and they met with 
complete success. But the expedition of St. Clair in 
November, 1791, had a far different ending. The Ken- 
tuckians were distrustful of regular officers and went with 
St. Clair reluctantly. Before the day of the battle 
three-fourths of the one thousand men that had started 
with him had deserted and the remaining were far from 
distinguishing themselves in the battle. But the various 
expeditions, successful or not, were all beneficial to Ken- 
tucky, inasmuch as they kept the attention of the Indians 
distracted from her borders. Within a few months a leader 
was to be found whose success would wipe out all memory 
of these defeats. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 229 



ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL. 

^ I ^HE economic beginnings of Kentucky are to be 
*• found almost as far back in the past as the founda- 
tions of its political history. At the beginning of the 
French and Indian war, the Governor of Virginia gave to 
the militia of his State a specific reason for enlistment in 
the promise of western lands. According to the terms of 
his proclamation, 200,000 acres of land were to be sur- 
veyed on or near the south bank of the Ohio River and 
divided among the militia.^ The terms w^ere liberal, as 
was appropriate in the case of men who in all probability 
would not live to demand their execution. For reasons 
which do not require explanation, these lands were not 
surveyed till the close of the struggle, and in 1763 the 
proclamation of King George in regard to his newly won 
territory again took up the land question. The land was 
to be surveyed for the veterans in amounts proportionate 
to their rank. Field officers were to receive 5,000 acres ; 
captains, 3,000 ; subalterns or staff officers, 2,000 ; non- 
commissioned officers, 200 ; and the lowly private, 50.^ 

But the same proclamation that set forth these terms 
likewise closed the Kentucky lands to settlements, reserv- 
ing them to the Indians. Not until 1770 did the Virginians 
obtain the legal sanction to settle in Kentucky. In Octo- 
ber of that year the treaty of Lochaber with the Chero- 
kees placed the western boundary at the Kanawha, and 
Colonel Donelson in surveying ran it along the Kentucky 
instead. This action, acquiesced in by all parties, opened 



1 Hening, Vol. VII, p. 669. 



280 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

up Kentucky for tlic Virginians. Tlic English sliortly 
announced a new polic}'^, to sui-A'cy the lands in tracts of 
from fifty to one thousand acres and sell them at auction.'^ 
But the Virginia House of Burgesses showed itself rebel- 
lious, and Governor Dunmore, in fulfillment of his prom- 
ises, sent the Virginia surveyors out in 1773 and 177'! to 
locate the lands for the veterans."* These surveyors did not 
pay strict attention to boundary lines, but did considerable 
surveying west of the Kentucky River. ]\Iost of the sur- 
veys, however, had been made east of the Kentucky, when 
in 1774 Dunmore's war put an end to all surveying, legal 
and illegal. 

In the spring of 1775 the Transylvania Company be- 
gan its settlement of Kentucky lands. The company of- 
fered to each man making the initial trip with Boone or 
Henderson tracts of 500 acres at a cost per hundred of 
SO shillings.^ At the same time it reserved the right to 
increase the price to those coming in later. In October, 
1775, the company changed the terms of land grants ; 
for a price of 50 shillings each settler was to receive GIjO 
acrees with an additional 320 for each taxable settler he 
brought in.*' By January, 1776, 900 claims had been 
recorded and 560,000 aci-es surveyed. 

It w^ill be remembered that one of the grievances of the 
Harrodsburg men, as set forth in their remonstrance, was 
this increased price of land. In point of fact, it was alto- 
gether to the advantage of the settlers that Virginia should 
assert jurisdiction over Kentucky, inasmuch as under Tran- 
sylvania land cost 50 shillings per hundred acres and 



3 Dunmore's Proclamation, Cal. Va. St. Papers. 

* Supra, Chap. V. 

B Journol of Virginia Convention, p. 61. 

'i American Archiven, Vol. IV, p. 654. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 231 

under Virginia cost nothing at all. The fall of Transyl- 
vania put an end to her land system, though the land war- 
rants issued by her were legalized. 

In the meantime, during 1775 and 1776, the Virginians 
continued to take up lands in Kentucky. So in 1776 
there were three kinds of land claims in Kentucky : the 
claims based on military service, the claims taken out 
under Transylvania, and a great multitude of claims taken 
out without any warrant or title whatever. June 24, 1776, 
the A'irginia Convention passed a resolution that all men 
then actually settled in Kentucky should be given prefer- 
ence to their lands, and the General Assembly, in October, 
1777, followed up this resolution with an act providing 
that all who had taken up lands in Kentucky prior to 
June 2-i, 1776, should have title to 400 acres.'^ A law 
passed two years later, October, 1779, gave to each settler 
who had been in Kentucky a year prior to Januar}^, 1778, 
or had raised a crop of corn, 400 acres as a settlement 
right and a pre-emption of 1,000 acres.® A cabin had 
to be erected to secure this pre-emption. Lands taken up 
after January, 1778, were to be passed on by a Court of 
Land Commissioners named in a law of the same year. 

By the provisions of the land law of 1779, future 
titles to Kentuck}^ land were to be secured only through 
treasury warrants.^ A land office was provided for and a 
Register was appointed by the Assembly. Henceforth 
land was to cost 40 pounds per 100 acres and the method of 
securing the title was an intricate one. A prospective 
land owner was required to deposit at Richmond the neces- 
sary money and receive a land warrant. This warrant 



7 Hening, Vol. IX, p. 355. 

8 Ibid., Vol. X, p. 38. 
^ Ibid., p. 50, 



282 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

merely named tlic quantity of land and authorized its 
survey. In each county of Kentucky was an official sur- 
veyor, and by him, or his deputies, the survey was made 
wherever the holder of the warrant desired. Trees, rocks, 
water courses, etc., were used to mark the boundaries. 
Plat and certificate of survey went on the surveyor's rec- 
ord and had to be returned to Richmond within one year. 
Within six to nine months later a deed was given. 

The defects of this law are apparent. In issuing war- 
rants for amounts without specifying locations, opening 
was left for great confusion ; the same ground was quite 
likely to be surveyed several times. The power of the 
owner to place his survey in any shape he desired resulted 
in many unsurveyed fragments and scraps of farms being 
enclosed by surveyed land. "Blanket" surveys were com- 
mon in which the holder of the warrant ran his lines around 
great territories, being, of course, guaranteed only such 
lands as were not already surveyed. By these means the 
fragments and scraps were secured, but in most cases they 
were occupied by settlers without title and dispossession en- 
tailed litigation and often bloodshed. The provisions of 
the law were so involved that man}' settlers never completed 
their titles and were eventually dispossessed. The litiga- 
tion has vexed the State to this day, and even now there 
are thousands of acres whose occupants have no other title 
tlian that of continued possession. 

Yet in this law Virginia probably did the very best she 
was able. Nothing but a public survey of all Kentucky 
prior to settlement could have prevented the evil. Such a 
survey was impossible for several reasons. In the first 
place, many settlers had come into the frontier in the con- 
fusion of early Revolutionary times and taken up claims 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 233 

before Virginia could formulate any actual land law. 
Moreover, physical conditions in Kentucky made such a 
sur\'ey impossible; Virginia had no survej^or at that time 
able to conduct a survey of Kentucky on a large scale in 
the mountains or even in the Bluegrass. 

The Court of Claims provided for in this law has 
already been described. The law remained in force, with 
minor changes, until 1792. In May, 1781, a law was 
passed authorizing the County Courts of Kentucky to 
direct surveys for the poor people of the land.^*^ Each 
family was granted 400 acres at a price of 20 shillings 
per 100 acres. Credit was given for two and one-half 
years. The law was to be in force until May, 1783, but 
when the time arrived a law was passed extending it for 
six months and reducing the price to 13 shillings. ^^ In 
November, 1781, a deputy land-register was provided for 
to reside in Kentucky. ^^ 

Of the actual size of the farms taken up by the settlers 
prior to 1792, little that is definite can be learned. Under 
Transylvania rules 960 acres could be secured in one grant 
and by Virginia settlement and pre-emption rights, 1,400 
acres. After 1779 the size of a grant was limited by the 
paying capacity of the settler. It is not unlikely that up 
to 1780 the average size and the maximum size was the 
same. After that there was a tendency to reduce the size, 
and by 1792 in all probability the farms were less than 
1,000 acres, being larger in the Bluegrass and much smaller 
in the mountains. ^^ 



10 Hening, Vol. X, p. 431. 
iiHening, Vol. XI, p. 296. 

12 Ibid., Vol. X, p. 445. 

13 Hughes, Lands in Dispute. 



231. HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTL'CKY 

The productivlt}' of tlic Kentucky land in pioneer times 
is indicated by the following figures: Hemp, 800 cwt. 
per acre ; maize, 60 bushels ; wheat, 30 bushels ; barley, 
40 bushels; oats, 50 bushels; clover, 25 cwt.'^ According 
to the same authority unimproved land in Kentucky cost 
from 1 to 8 shillings; improved, 12 to 15 shillings, and if 
there was an orchard the price rose to l^/o pounds sterling.^^ 

In 1792 the three leading crops in Kentucky- were corn, 
hemp und tobacco. As was natural, Indian corn was al- 
ways tlie first crop to be planted by the new settler, since 
for the first few years his family, as well as his cattle, 
depended on it for subsistence. In early Kentucky the 
ground, after being plowed, was harrowed with large brush 
from tlic trees and was then laid off in furrows "both 
ways." ^" Tlie corn was planted by dropping it by hand ; 
when it matured both blades and ears were stripped from 
the stalk and stored away. For the most part only yellow 
corn was raised in early da3's, and in 1792 this was selling 
for twenty-five cents per bushel. The corn was plowed but 
once and no sort of fertilizer was used to repair the soil 
for tlie next crop. In fact, it was not poor ground the 
settler had to fear, but excessive fertility ; if wheat was sown 
on new ground, it grew so rank as to be useless. Wheat 
crops could be raised only after four or five corn crops. ^' 

In early Kentucky, hemp was considered superior to 
tobacco as a staple crop.^** It was first raised near Danville 
by Archibald McNeill in 1775, and continued until the 
Civil war to be a principal product of Kentucky. In early 
times hemp served as the standard of exchange in Kcn- 



14 Imlay, Kentucky, Letter IV. 

i^Ibid., Letter VII. 

i«A. Michaux, Travels, Early Wenfern TraveU, Vol. III. 

17 Filson, Description of Kentucky, p. 23. 

18 Moore, Hemp Industry in Kentucky, 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 235 

tuck}^, and in 1T86 Virginia made it receivable for taxes 
at 30 shillings per hundred weight. ^^ In 1792 the usual 
price was 25 shillings. 

Tobacco did not become an important crop in Ken- 
tucky till after 1787. Since it is a crop that can not be 
largely consumed by the producers and it was practically 
impossible to get it to market because of distance and poor 
transportation, the necessary result was that little was 
raised and that for a A^ery low price— two cents per pound. 
The mode of cultivation followed that in use in Virginia, 
wliich meant stripping the leaves from the stalk when the 
plant matured and leaving the stalk standing in the field. 
After the opening of the New Orleans market to Wilkin- 
son, the growing of tobacco took on new life, and it soon 
became the principal crop of export in the State. This 
increased demand for tobacco naturally raised the price, 
and in 1786 a Virginia law made it receivable in taxes at 
20 shillings per hundred weight.-*^ One year later the 
rate was raised to 23 shillings.-^ The market for the 
tobacco was found in New Orleans. Tobacco, however, in 
early Kentucky had to be delivered to warehouses estab- 
lished by State license and there inspected by State officers.^" 
When the tobacco was delivered at these places certificates 
were given to its owner and these naturally enough passed 
current as money in the primitive economic life of the time. 

The present road system of Kentucky is founded on 
the traces of pioneer times, and those, in turn, were based 
on the Indian and buffalo trails. There was an essential 
difference between the two, since the Indian paths were nar- 



J9 Hening, Vol. XI, p. 30. 
■M Hening, Vol. XI, p. 259. 

21 Ibid., p. 455. 

22 Ibid., Vol. X, p. 205. 



286 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

row, while the buffalo trails were many rods wide. Lewis 
Evans' map of 1755 indicates the most important of the 
Indian roads in Kentucky. These have already been de- 
scribed. There were, however, numerous offshoots and 
branches of these roads and many of them were afterwards 
adopted as routes for county highways. ^""^ The buffalo 
trails led from all directions to the "Licks" ; they were more 
numerous by far than tlic Indian roads, and like them were 
often adopted as highways. 

Filson's map of 1793 shows the road system of Ken- 
tucky in pioneer times. Lexington was the converging 
point of nine roads, Danville, of four. The four most 
important roads were the Wilderness Road, the Nashville 
Road, the Lexington-Limestone Road, and the Louisville 
roads. All these were made of the same material : viz., 
dirt. They were of unequal width along their course and 
had no grading. A road in pioneer Kentucky was simply 
a strip of land over which the trail passed. The Virginia 
Assembly, in 1779, appointed Calloway and Shelby to mark 
out a way for pack horses over the Wilderness trail. This 
did not mean that before this time the trail was not in use 
for pack horses, but merely that the trail was to be im- 
proved and the best branches indicated. ^^ Though little was 
done at tliis time in the way of improvement, the road con- 
tinued to be used in increasing measure for immigration 
and trade. It was the custom for people going from Ken- 
tucky to Virginia to travel in companies under guard, and 
these trips were advertised long ahead so that all travelers 
might take advantage of them. The Lexington-Limestone 
road was never a subject for State action before 1792. Its 



23 VerhoefF, The Kentucky Mountains. 

24 Hening, Vol. X, p. 143. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 237 

origin lay in the Indian-buffalo trail that connected both 
places with the Lower Blue Licks. It came into prominence 
first as an immigrant road to central Kentucky for those 
coming down the Ohio, and later as a trade route by which 
the Pennsj'lvania merchandise reached the Bluegrass. The 
first wagon was taken over it in 1783. The course of the 
road was the present Maysville and Lexington pike. At 
Lexington began the road to Nashville ; it made with the 
Limestone Road a continuous highway across the land and 
was a famous route for travelers, and, later, for trade. Its 
course is shown on the Filson map ; it passed through the 
"Barrens" of Kentucky, where a traveler in 1792 might 
go forty miles without seeing a house. Because of the 
nature of the ground over which it passed, it formed an 
easier road than the two alread}^ mentioned. It was not 
improved before 1792. The Louisville roads were also 
modified trails connecting that town with Lexington and 
Danville. At these towns they connected with the roads 
already mentioned. The Louisville roads were free from 
obstruction, for most of their course, and could be traveled 
by wagons from the first. All the Kentucky roads, how- 
ever, had to cross numerous rivers and these were seldom 
fordable. Due to this fact the Virginia government early 
authorized the establishment of ferries at the necessary 
places. The Boonesborough ferry in 1779 was the first of 
these and was followed by many others. In 1787 the au- 
thority to establish ferries was given to the County Courts 
of Kentucky. ^^ In 1786 Virginia authorized the building 
by private subscriptions of a "New Road" from Lexington 
to the Kanawha.^" It was unfinished in 1792. 



^sHening, Vol. XI, p. 600. 
26 Ibid., p. 196. 



288 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

The settlement of Kentucky ci'cpt out from the central 
Bhiegrass along these four great roads. Indeed, pioneer 
Kentucky may well be likened to a wheel of which the Blue- 
grass was the hub and these roads the spokes. Washington, 
Maj'slick, Lower Blue Lick, Millersburg and Paris grew up 
along the Limestone Road, while Frankfort, Shelbj'ville, 
Midway and many others were founded on the roads to 
Louisville. The road through the "Barrens" did not at 
first induce settlement, but after 1792 settlers began to take 
up farms along the road and towns came into existence at 
the usual halting places of the travelers. 

From the time Kentucky County was formed in 1776 
until the da}' of its admission in 1792, the life of its inhab- 
itants was one of turmoil if not of danger. There was 
much fighting and more talk of fighting with the Indians, 
and one of the most essential facts in the early history of 
Kentucky was the organization of the militia on which Ken- 
tucky depended for protection. 

It was the Virginia law that all free male citizens between 
the ages of eighteen and fifty should be a part of the 
militia and subject to military service at the will of the 
State.^^ The usual exceptions were made of the feeble- 
minded and the incapacitated, etc. The militia was to be 
organized by counties with the county-lieutenant at the 
head with the title of colonel. Under him were the majors 
and captains in order, all of whom received their commis- 
sions from the Virginia authorities. Among the county- 
lieutenants he was the ranking officer who had been longest 
in command, and in case two or more received their appoint- 
ment at the same time, the seniority was determined by lot. 
The county-lieutenants had the authorit}' to call out the 



27 Hening, Vol. XI, p. 476. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 239 

troops in case of invasion, but otherwise this power was 
reserved to the Governor of Virginia. In Kentucky, the 
settlers were furnished Avith rifles by the Virginia govern- 
ment, and these rifles were understood to belong to the 
settlers as long as they remained in Kentucky. As a matter 
of fact, the arms seldom returned to the government, no 
matter where the pioneer removed. The militia privates 
only received pay when they were actually called out by the 
officers in the senace of Virginia. Then they wore compen- 
sated munificently at the rate of five dollars a month, with 
one ration a day additional. 

It was the custom of Virginia from time to time to send 
troops from the older counties to those in the more exposed 
west. These were enlisted for a definite period of time, 
and if much trouble was brewing, remained constantly 
under anus until their time expired. For these, regular 
commissaries were established and maintained at each fort. 
These had in their employ "hunters" whose business it was 
to see that the troops were supplied with meat. At stated 
times the militia accounts were audited and the men paid.^^ 

Ammunition for the use of the Kentucky militia was of 
course furnished by A'irginia. It was kept in the various 
forts and doled out by the sparing hand of the militia 
officers. This official ammunition, of course, was only used 
when the militia was called out; on forays and hunts the 
pioneers had to shift for themselves. Often the ammuni- 
tion trains on their way to Kentucky were attacked by 
Indians, who boasted that the kind-hearted Virginians kept 
them as well supplied with powder as the Kentuckians did 
with horses. 



2» Autobiography of Daniel Trabue. 



240 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

By the law of 1784; the Kentucky militia was to have a 
private muster every three months, a regimental muster in 
March or April and a general muster in October or Novem- 
ber. They were to be drilled In the disclpine that Von 
Steuben had introduced into the Revolutionary army. But 
the law was never enforced and the militia remained in 1792 
little more than a a rabble on the parade ground, but on an 
Indian raid a thing of terror from the North Carolina line 
to the Great Lakes ; they went into service ununiformed 
and highl}' regardless of rank and discipline, but they 
fought none the less valorously for that, and theirs is the 
credit that Kentucky was enabled to live through the strenu- 
ous days of Indian warfare and finally come into Statehood. 

In military as well as other affairs, the unit of govern- 
ment in Kentucky was the county. Until 1783, when the 
District Court was established, the county governments 
were the only forms of control of which the Kentuckians 
had any experience. At the time of separation from Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky was composed of nine counties: Jefferson, 
Lincoln and Fayette created in 1780 ; Nelson, 1784 ; Bour- 
bon, Madison and Mercer, 1785 ; Woodford and Mason, in 
1788. Each of these had its usual quota of justices of the 
peace and a Court of Quarterly Sessions. Each county, 
too, was given representation in the Virginia Assembl}'. 
It is of interest that the different counties were not given 
representation in proportion to their population, but each 
had the same number of delegates — two each. When, in 
1788, the Kentucky counties were given a Congressional 
representative, John Brown was chosen and remained in 
office until Statehood. 



X<;^ 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 241 

When the District of Kentucky was created in 1783, 
a District Court was estabhshed, consisting of a judge, two 
assistant judges and an attorney.^* The Court was to meet 
quarterly and was to sit for eighteen days at each session. 
The salary of the judge was fixed at 250 pounds, of the 
assistants at 200 pounds, and the attorney at 150 pounds.^" 
In 1784< the salaries of the judges were increased to 300 
pounds.'*^ John Flo3'd was the first judge, with McDowell 
and Muter as assistants and Walker Daniel, attorney. On 
the death of Floyd, Muter became judge, with McDowell 
and Sebastian as assistants ; Innes became attorney when 
Daniel died. 

The counties each had a sheriff and a surveyor appointed 
by the Governor. The seat of government was Louisville, 
for Jefferson ; for Fayette, Lexington, and for Lincoln, 
Harrodsburg. When these three counties were created, 
James Thompson was appointed surveyor for Lincoln ; 
George INIay for Jefferson, and Thomas Marshall for Fay- 
ette, George May had been the surveyor of Kentucky 
County. 

It must be admitted that the early Kentuckians were not 
distinguished for religious piety. There were many de- 
nominations among them, of which the Catholic, the Meth- 
odist, the Baptist and the Presbyterian were the most con- 
siderable, but they scarcely affected the current of Ken- 
tucky life. Contemporary writers noted with amazement 
the absence of piety in the land, and were not slow in pre- 
dicting a fitting retribution. 

There were three hundred Catholics in 1792, and they 
merited and secured a reputation for good citizenship and 



29 Hening, Vol. XI, p. 86. 

30 Ibid., p. 398. 

31 Ibid., p. 499. 



342 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

godly character, such as had distlngiiislicd the early Quakers 
in Pennsylvania. The Kentucky Catholics came almost 
entirely from Maryland."^- In their old homes they were 
poor, and the prospect of good land in Kentucky attracted 
them. Until 1785 the members of the church were few ; 
Hart and Combs were at Harrodstown in 1776, and there 
were a £ew others at the various stations. In 1785 a con- 
siderable number of Catholics from St. Marys, Charles and 
Prince George's counties moved to Kentucky and settled 
on Pattinger's Creek. The land was poor there and the 
prospect uninviting, but the congregation made the best 
of it. By 1787 there were fifty Catholic families in Ken- 
tucky, but no priest. They encountered fierce opposition 
from the Protestants. Father Wheelan ministered to the 
small flock from 1787 to 1790, at which time he returned 
to Maryland. From 1790 till 1793 William DeRohan, from 
South Carolina, labored as an irregular priest in Kentucky. 

The early history of the Presbyterians in Kentucky cen- 
ters around the Reverend David Rice.^^ He came to Ken- 
tucky from Mrginia in 1783 and gathered the members of 
his church into three congregations. They were located at 
Danville, Cane Run and Dick's River. In 1786 the first 
synod was held at Danville, and in 1792 there were twelve 
organizations of Presbyterians in Kentucky'. 

Between Presbyterian and ^Methodist in early days there 
was more co-operation than rivalry. In 1783 the Reverend 
Francis Clark came to Kentucky and establised a church at 
Danville. The church was of slow growth and had a mem- 
bership of but ninety in 1787. Daw and Ogden were ap- 
pointed itinerant preachers in 1786, and b}' their efforts 



32 Spalding, Sketches; Badin, Mission du Kentucky. 

33 Rice, Memoirs. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 243 

Methodism soon became a vital force in the district. In 
1788 two circuits were formed, Lexington and Danville. 
In 1700, Bishop Asbury came to Kentucky and a Methodist 
'Church was built at Masterson's Station. A conference was 
held, 300 pounds was subscribed for a school and two new 
circuits made. Limestone and Madison. In 1790, there 
were nine ministers among the Kentucky Methodists and 
the church membership numbered 1,400.^"* 

By far the largest denomination in early Kentucky was 
the Baptist. The majority of the settlers from the Yadkin 
region were Baptists and they from the beginning more 
than outnumbered all the other denominations. Squire 
Boone himself was an itinerant Baptist preacher, as was 
aIso William Hickman, who came to Kentucky in 1776. 
In 1790 there were forty-two Baptist churches in Ken- 
tucky and the membership numbered over 3,000. No other 
denomination could show such results. '^^ 

Kentucky in 1792 had a population in excess of 100,000. 
Of these not more than 10,000 were members of the four 
churches that have been named. There were, in fact, a 
goodly part of the people that belonged to minor organiza- 
tions. It might be said of the religions of Kentucky, as of 
its currency, that every civilized country contributed some- 
thing. Yet, after the most liberal estimate is made, the 
admission must still be made that two-thirds of the popu- 
lation of Kentucky in 1792 were content to live without the 
fold of the church. 

The increase of population in Kentucky was an object 
of wonder and even jealousy to the eastern States. In 
seventeen years it had leaped from nothing to over 100,000 ; 



34 Redford, Methodum in Kentucky. 

35 Marshall, History of Kentucky, Vol. I, p. 446. 



244 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

no other State in tlie Union had experienced such growth. 
Up to 1780 the population had not numbered more than a 
few hundred, but in that year beegan the great migration 
from Virginia, and three years later it was estimated that 
Kentucky contained 12,000 people ; by 1784 the number 
had become 20,000 ; by 1785, 30,000 ; by 1790. 73,000, and 
by 1792, 100,000. This population was confined almost 
wholly to the Bluegrass and was composed of rural com- 
munities. Settlement was going on all the time in the 
mountains along the roads that led to the Bluegrass, but 
in 1792 it was ^^et inconsiderable. There was no town in 
Kentucky numbering more than 1,000 inhabitants. In 
1790 Lexington contained 834< inhabitants ; Washington, 
462; Louisville, 350, and Danville, 150. Boonesborough 
was still one of the thriving towns in Kentucky and Mays- 
ville was bidding fair to become the metropolis of the west. 
Most of the population of Kentucky was Virginian, with 
Maryland second and North Carolina a close third. The 
people were almost entirely of English blood, with a small 
per cent, of Germans. 

The subject of the mountain population of Kentucky 
has always been a fertile field for speculation on the part 
of the sociologists. The}^ have been said to be the descend- 
ants of the younger children of the Virginian aristocracy ; 
to be the Scotch-Irish of a later immigration than those 
settling in the Bluegrass ; to be Bluegrass settlers w^hom 
accident or stress of circumstance forced to settle in the 
mountains. A minute study of history will show that the 
beginning of settlement in the mountain was along the roads 
that ran through the to the Bluegrass. Taverns and 
hostelries for the accommodation of travelers formed 
the nucleus from which the settlements expanded. The 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 245 

Wilderness Road was the first region to be settled. As 
for the settlers, the}' were essentially of the same rank 
and class as those in the Bluegrass. Early Kentucky rec- i*^ 
ognized no difference between mountain population and 
that of central Kentucky. Whatever difference exists today 
is due to the fact that the two sections have developed dif- 
ferently economically since their settlement. 

Kentucky being settled from the frontier regions of 
the eastern States, did not display so much difference in 
classes as did the older States. The patrician element in 
the population was submerged in the overwhelming flood 
of the so-called plebians. Free land and the equal oppor- 
tunity for wealth soon leveled any imported distinctions, 
and Kentucky, instead of imitating the social systems of -v-^ 
the south, originated a social structure of the west — where 
the wealth and power reposed in the hands of the middle 
class with the upper and lower classes conspicuously absent. 
The Maryland and many of the Virginian settlers brought 
slaves to Kentucky, and in 1790, out of a population of 
73,000, 12,000 were slaves. Yet slavery in Kentucky was 
far different from what it was in South Carolina or even 
in Virginia. Negroes and white men, master and slave, 
worked together in the fields, marched together against the 
Indians, and after deatli^slept side by side in the family 
i^cemetery. It would be no exaggeration to say that slavery 
as it existed in Kentucky was the mildest form of servitude 
mankind has witnessed. 

Primitive Kentuckians, whether plebe or patrician, bond 
or free, lived very much the same kind of life. The houses 
were all of logs prepared by the very adequate method of 
felling trees, lopping off the branches and notching the 
ends of the logs so the}'^ would fit together when the house 



246 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

was raised.^'"' The logs were sometimes hewn square, hut 
were quite often left round. The chinks between the logs 
were daubed with clay, making the house, for all its rough 
appearance, a place thoroughly impervious to the weather. 
Sometimes a stone chimney was built, but more often the 
chimney was of sticks lined with clay. They were, of 
course, always built on the outside. The floor of the cabin 
was commonly earthern and the roofs were made of boards 
J rived, generally, of ash. The furniture and utensils within 
Ov' the house were as rude as the house itself. The bed con- 
sisted of slabs laid across a number of poles and the chairs 
were slabs supported by legs made of sticks. The tables 
were of similar manufacture to the chairs and the eating 
apparatus that graced them was not inharmonious. Knives 
and forks were rare ; two or three was the ordinary quota 
to a family. The plates, etc., were wooden and the intro- 
duction of delft ware was seriously opposed on the ground 
that it would dull the knives. Cooking was done in the 
great fireplace which formed the most pi-ominent part of 
the room. 

The bill of fare was by no means unlimited ; it consisted 
for the most part of "hog and hominy," and varied little 
throughout the year. Johnnycake was at first the only 
kind of bread known to the Kontuckians ; milk and mush 
was the usual supper — the latter often eaten with sweet- 
ened water. Game of different kinds was sometimes ob- 
tained and bear meat was regarded as a great delicacy. 
Tea and coffee were reserved for the sick and were consid- 
ered as a mark of effeminacy if taken by people in goo<l 
health. 



38 Doddridge, Notes; Butler, Valley of the Ohio. 



HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 247 

Considering the nature of tlie remedies given for the 
various diseases which affected the early Kentuckians, it 
would seem that there was much inducement to remain well. 
All the diseases common to children were imputed to worms, ^ 

and the remedies were heroic indeed. Salt, pewter, sulphate \(^' 

of iron or green copperas in huge doses was the prescrip- ^J^ 
tion in all such cases. The bark of the white walnut tree'fl^^ 
peeled upward constituted a powerful emetic ; peeled down- 
word, it formed a cathartic of wonderful power. If any- 
one was bitten by a snake, the flesh of the snake, if applied 
to the wound, was supposed to neutralize the poison. A 
fluid made of boiling chestnut leaves was also a favorite 
remed}'. The great number of cures effected by these 
remedies may have been somewhat influenced by the fact 
that the Kentucky snakes (the copperhead excepted) are 
entirel}'^ harmless. Gun shots were treated with slippery 
elm bark, while erysipelas, or Saint Anthony's fire, was 
assuaged by the blood of a black cat. It is a matter of 
record that black cats were remarkably scarce in early 
Kentucky'. 

Domestic animals of any kind were not numerous in 
Kentucky. They were slain year after year by the Indians 
on their raifis. Prior to 1780, when the population of Ken- 
tucky for the most part lived in forts, the horses and cattle 
were necessarily allowed to wander through the forests 
and were taken into the fort only in case of siege. The 
hogs thus running Avild soon acquired a fierceness so great 
that the panthers and wild cats hesitated to attack them. 
It may also be observed that they developed a speed which, 
if properly directed, would have rendered them formidable 
competitors in the Derby. After the settlers left the forts 
and erected farmhouses the hogs and sheep were quite com- 



248 HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 

inonly kept under the house if it were provided with a 
floor. Uneasiness on the part of the cattle was always 
regarded as an indication that Indians were near, and many 
a fort was saved in this way from destruction at the hands 
of its foes. For food the stock depended on tlie fruits of 
the forest or the cane and Indian corn raised by the settlers. 

The clothing worn by the Kentuckians was almost alto- 
gether of home manufacture. Each household possessed 
a rude tannery where the hides used in the making of shoes 
were tanned. Moccasins were commonly made of deer skins, 
and in winter were stuffed with grass and leaves to keep out 
the cold. The clothing, consisting of long trousers and a 
hunting shirt, was home spun and "store" clothing was 
practically unknown before 1780. A coonskin cap com- 
pleted the outfit. It must not be thought, however, that 
the dress of the pioneers was uniform ; there were as many 
variations as there were inhabitants of Kentucky. The 
young men sometimes adopted Indian attire and appeared 
in public clad only in breech-clouts and paint. Quite 
commonly, too, the women and children went barefooted, 
wearing shoes only on special occasions. 

Early Kentucky was as distinguished for its lack of 
schools as for its disregard of religion. There w^ere, of 
course, no j)ublic schools in Kentucky and such private ones 
as there were could boast of little but the name.^' The 
teachers were generally Irish, and their principal qualifica- 
tion seemed to be a capacity for consuming "moonshine" in 
indefinite quantities. The alphabet was commonly learned 
from characters painted on a shingle and other knowledge 
was acquired in similar ways. Books were scarce, and, as a 



3T E. A. Venable, in National Educational Association Report for 
1889; Lewis, History of Higher Education in Kentucky. 




ADAFTBO *-'{Ofv[ f^ 



<>V5 A'E/vO'Jc.i'j. 



I 






HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY 249 ^ }j 

consequence, there was much studying together — a state of <'^J ^ 
things resulting in much confusion, inasmuch as everyone /** "^ 
studied aloud. The good students were often rewarded ., „_ ^ ^ ^ 
by the teacher passing around a bottle of whiskey or a 
"plug" of tobacco. Unremitting application of the rod 
was relied upon to remedy all defects physical, mental or 
moral. These schools were designated as Old Field Schools 
for the reason that the school building was erected on 
ground that had been exhausted and thrown out. 

Kentucky was, in 1792, in appearance far different 
from the land of fifteen years before. The forests were fast 
disappearing from the Bluegrass. Fields of hemp, corn 
and tobacco dotted the face of the land. Settlement was 
spreading to the mountains and the Barrens. Indian 
fighting was rapidly becoming but a memory and of the 
old leaders only two or three were left. Logan was living 
quietly on his farm in Lincoln Count}^, full of age and 
honors. Harrod was dead, treacherously murdered, it was 
whispered. Clarke was at Louisville, amusing an intemper- 
ate old age with fancies of future greatness in the service 
of France. Land sharks had compelled Boone to leave Ken- 
tucky. Henderson was dead ; Todd was dead ; Floyd was 
dead. The Pioneer Age of Kentucky history was at an end. 



INDEX 



A. 

Adventure, a motive for settle- 
ment, 27. 
Allegewi, 30, 31, 32. 
Animals, domestic, 247. 
Ancient forts, 36. 
Assembly, Transylvania, 91, 100. 

B. 

Baptists, 248. 

B arbours ville, 44. 

Barrens, 3. 

Battle Run, 184. 

Bedinger, Maj., 154. 

Big Bone Lick, 9, 45. 

Big Sandy, 6. 

Black Hoof, 13. 

Bledsoe, 56. 

Board of War, 228. 

Boone, Daniel, comes to Ken- 
tucky, 50; capture, 52; meets 
Long Hunters, 55; with fam- 
ily to Kentucky, 62; with 
Stoner, 67; in Dunmore's War, 
74; opens road to Kentucky, 
86; returns to North Carolina, 
98; returns to Kentucky, 99; 
recaptures girls, 104; a captain, 
112; saved by Kenton, 115; 
captured at Lower Blue Licks, 
132; life among the Indians, 
135, 136; returns to Boones- 
borough, 136; court-martialed, 
148; major, 149; at Lower 
Bhie Licks, 190. 

Boonesborough, building, 89; de- 
scription of, 94; attack upon, 
115; great siege, 139. 

Boundaries, of Kentucky, 2, 170. 

Bowman, J., 112, 117, 119. 

Bowman Expedition, 153. 

Bourbon County, 223. 

Brown, John, 220. 

Bryant's Station, 152; siege, 184. 

Buffaloes, 9. 

Bullitt, Captain, 59, 



Bullock, Leonard, 74. 
Byrd's Invasion, 163. 



Calloway, Richard, 86, 112, 114, 
119, 137, 140, 142. 

Cane, 4, 

Carter's Valley Settlement, 69. 

Carolina, Western, 24. 

Catawa, 7. 

Catawba, 7. 

Catholics, 241. 

Census, Harrodsto^vn, 120. 

Chartier, 11. 

Chatteraway, R., 6. 

Chenoa, 6. 

Chenoka, 6. 

Cherokees, 19, 32, 56, 75, 83. 

Chickamauga Expedition, 224. 

Chickasaws, 13, 162. 

Chillicothe, 17, 133, 153. 

Clarke, G. R., at Harrodstown, 
97, 101; goes to Virginia, 103 
secures powder, 105; major, 
112; sends men to Illinois, 114 
drafts militia accounts, 121 
plans Illinois campaign, 122 
raises troops, 124 ; builds block- 
house at Louisville, 127; builds 
Ft. Jefferson, 163; against Shaw- 
nese, 166 ; brigadier-general, 
172; campaign against Detroit, 
173; relieves Ft. Jefferson, 174; 
reprimanded by governor, 183; 
conduct in 1782, 196; dissatis- 
faction with, 205; expedition 
of 1787, 217. 

Clothing, in early Kentucky, 248. 

Cool, Wm., 50. 

Convention, "second" for state- 
hood, 211; "third," 212, 214; 
"fourth," 216, 219; "fifth," 220; 
"sixth," 221; "seventh," 221, 
226; "eighth," 226; "nmth," 
227. 

Corn, raising of, 234. 

261 



252 



INDEX 



Crops, in early Kentucky, 284. 

County Government, 240. 

Court of Quarter Sessions, 119. 

Court, District, 241. 

Cresap, Captain, 66. 

Croghan, Geo., 49. 

Cuniberhuid, gap, 28; river, 6; 

mountains, 5. 
Cuttawa, 7. 

D. 

Danville, 206. 

Dark and Bloody Ground, 78. 

Delawares, 17. 

Delegates, to Virginia, about 

statehood, 215; to Congress, 

220. 
District, judicial, 206. 
District Court, 241. 
Dick, Captain, 55. 
Douglass, J as., 63. 
Drennon's Lick, 61. 
Dunmore's War, 66. 



E. 

Education in Kentucky, 248. 
Election, first in Kentucky, 114. 
Enabling Act, first, 215; second, 

219; third, 226; fourth, 226. 
Eskippakithiki, 11, 47, 50, 61. 
Estill's defeat, 180. 
Exploration of Kentucky, by 

Walker, 43; by Gist, 44. 
Evans, Lewis, 46. 



Farms, size of, 233. 

Fayette County, 170. 

Ferry, on Ohio, 129; on Ken- 
tucky, 158; on Kentucky and 
Ohio', 223. 

Finley, John, 46, 50. 

Floyd, John, 63, 90, 99, 119, 170, 
209. 

Food, pioneer, 246. 

Forts, frontier, 175, 201 ; ancient, 
36. 

Ft. JeflFcrson, 162, 174. 

Ft. Massac, 127. 

Ft. Pitt, 65, 110. 

Ft. Stanwix, 59, 82. 



Franklin, State of, 225. 
French and Indian War, 47. 

G. 

Girty, Simon, 187, 195. 
Gist, Christopher, 44. 
Great Salt Creek, 8. 
Greathouse, 66. 

H. 

Hamilton, Henrv, 109, 111, 117. 

Hancock, Steplien, 137, 143. 

Hard Labor Treaty, 83. 

Harmar's Expedition, 288. 

Harrod, James, 59, 92, 104. 

Harrodstown, built, 63; reoccu- 
pied, 90; convention at, 102 
memorial to Virginia, 108 
siege, 118; county seat, 119 
census, 120. 

Hart, brothers, 74. 

Henderson, Richard, 72; Wataga 
treaty, 80; to Kentucky, 88; 
holds convention, 92; returns 
to North Carolina, 98; grant 
from Virginia and North Car- 
olina, 106; at Boonesborough, 
166; runs boundary, 171. 

Henry, Patrick, 73. 

Hite, A., 60. 

Hite, I., 64. 

Hogg, James, 74, 99, 101. 

Holder, Joseph, 50, 105, 120, 158, 
184. 

Houses, in early Kentucky, 245. 

Hov's Station, 184. 



Indian Fields, 2. 12. 

Indian Expedition of 1787, 217. 

Indians, title to Kentucky, 82; 
English feeling toward, 28; 
northern, 16, 178; use by Eng- 
land, 200; take side of Eng- 
lish, 72, 108; officers, 110. 

Iroquois, 10, 82. 



Jefferson Countv, 170. 
Jefferson, Fort,' 162, 174. 



INDEX 



258 



K. 

Kenton, 95, 99, 114, 115, 138, 167. 

Kentucky, forests, 2; mountains, 
5; rivers, 6; "licks," 8; game, 
9; name, 15; origin of popula- 
tion, 21; roads into, 28; in 1792, 
249. 

Kentucky Ck)unty, 104. 

Kentucky River, 7, 

Knox, James, 55. 

L. 

Land, Proclamation of 1754, 229 
Dunmore's Proclamation, 230 
Transylvania policy, 85, 230 
Act of 1776, 231 ; of 1777, 231 
of 1779, 231; of 1781, 233; war- 
rants, 169 

Land Court, 159. 

Laughrey's Defeat, 173. 

Leestown, 102. 

Lexington, 96, 151. 

Limestone Creek, 60, 105. 

Lincoln Countj% 170. 

Lochaber, Treaty of, 83. 

I^ogan's Speech, 67. 

Logan, Benj., 91, 112, 116, 119, 
153, 167, 170, 192, 203, 209, 212, 
218, 219. 

Long Hunters, 54. 

Louisa River, 7. 

Louisville, 61, 100; blockhouse, 
127; fort, 151, 161; fortified, 
202. 

Lower Blue Licks, 130, 189. 

Loyal Land Company, 43. 

M. 

Madison County, 223. 
Martin's Station, 165. 
May, John, 120, 161, 206. 
Mammotli Cave, 7. 
McAfee Bros., 59; Robt., 60, 90. 
McBride, Jas., 46, 47. 
McDowell, Samuel, 211. 
McGarj^ Hugh, 99, 189, 191, 193. 
Medicine, early, 247. 
Mercer County, 223. 
Methodists, 242. 
Miami Indians, 19. 



Miami Expedition, 196. 

Militia, 112, 158, 161, 183, 209, 

224, 227, 238. 
Millewakane River, 7. 
Mingoes, 9. 
Mooney, James, 50. 
Moundbuilders, 30, 33, 34, 85, 

36, 37. 
Mount Sterling, 180. 
Mountain, population, 247. 

N. 

Neely, Alexander, 53. 

Nelson County, 212. 

Nepernine River, 6. 

New England and Kentucky, 

221. 
New Orleans, 207. 
Northwest, 109. 

O. 

Ohio Company, 43. 
Ouasiotos Mountains, 5. 



Paint Creek Expedition, 188. 

"Path" Treaty, 79. 

Patrol boats, 173, 204. 

Pigeon River, 6. 

Pilot Knob, 45. 

Piqua, 17. 

Point Pleasant, 68. 

Pontiac, 48. 

Presbyterians, 242. 

Preston, 63. 

R. 

Red River, 61. 
Roads, in Kentucky, 236. 
Rockcastle River, 44. 
Roger's Defeat, 160. 
Ruddle's Station, 164. 

S. 

Saint Asaph's, built, 91; at- 
tacked, 115. 
Sandy Island, 32. 
Scott's Expedition, 228. 
Sedition, 209. 
Settlement, Motives of, 26. 



254 



INDEX 



Shannoah, 18. 

Shannopin Town, 45. 

Shelby, Isaac, 77. 

Shawnese, 6; at Indian Fields, 
12; in Ohio, 16; capture Boone 
and Stewart, 52; attack Boone, 
62; title to Kentucky, 81; at- 
tack Boonesborough, 101; cap- 
ture girls, 104; capture Boone, 
130; besiege Boonesborough, 
135. 

Shenandoah Valley, 24. 

Slavery, 245. 

Statehood, 227. 

Stewart, 50, 52. 

Stoner, Michael, 67, 89, 99. 

Strode's Station, 152, 179. 

Supreme Court of Kentucky, 206. 

Surveyors, Early, 58. 

Sycamore Shoals, 76. 

T. 

Taylor, Hancock, 59, 63. 

Tennessee River, 6. 

Title to Kentucky, 81. 

Tobacco, 235. 

Todd, John, 105, 114, 119, 162, 

170, 189. 
Totteroy River, 6. 
Trails, Indian, 3. 
Transylvania Company, 75. 



Transylvania Colony, boundaries, 
78; land laws, 85; Assembly, 
91; name, 92; population in 
1775, 95; land office, 96; meet- 
ing of proprietors, 98; memo- 
rial against, 102; dissolution, 
106. 

Treaty of 1783, 199. 

Twetty, Capt., 87. 

Twigtees, 19. 

U. 

Upper Blue Licks, 184. 

V. 

Virginia, title to Kentucky, 81; 
aristocracy, 22; economics, 21. 

W. 

Walker, Dr. Thomas, 43, 171. 

War Road, 14. 

Wataga, settlements, 69; treaty, 

76. 
Wilderness Road, 158. 
Wilkinson, James, 209, 212, 213, 

216, 221, 226. 
Williams, John, 98, 99. 
Winter, hard, 1779, 157. 
Wyandots, 18, 179, 180. 

Y. 

Yadkin, 24. 



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